


Would that I

by JawwnRC



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Witcher Fusion, Anal Sex, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:28:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27370459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JawwnRC/pseuds/JawwnRC
Summary: “So, wolf, huh?” The blond said with a broad smile. Gladio found the unexpected expression of emotion startlingly bright for a witcher. “I guess cats and wolves can help each other.”Gladio groaned in acknowledgement before turning and pulling his sword out. Now that the fight was done, he probably needed to drink a potion. He could tell there were a bunch of bruises and his armor was slightly dented on some points. Only then he turned to the Cat witcher. “I have a contract for this fiend.”---In which fate keeps bringing Prompto and Gladio together, and how from that it becomes something more.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Prompto Argentum
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27
Collections: Promptio Big Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had a great time writing this fic for Promptio Big Bang, it was a lot of fun and I'm happy to finally write something for this ship I adore a lot.

It had been raining on the village and the woods around it for three days, in that particular way that was not a downpour but never stopped and made everything look even gloomier than it should. Gladiolus cursed under his breath, trudging through the mud that covered the bog. His armor and hair were soaked and covered in mud and sweat that inevitably worried him about having to spend whatever money he made from this contract in repairing it. It wasn't helpful that he hadn’t been able to have a decent bath in the excuse for an inn in the nearby village. He had been hunting this goddamn fiend for the past two days, yet another contract for a monster hunter in a village forgotten by its king. The sort of place even tax collectors would ignore, filled with miserable dirty people who hated the world outside of their little group. The village leader didn’t look pleased with having to talk to a witcher, but then again, Gladiolus had yet to meet someone who was. Yet, the witcher had been promised enough coin for the job to make the glares and the barely conceited disgusted from the man pointless. He had been on the Path for enough time to know that there would never be any thankfulness from anyone. It didn’t bother him as much, people never quite understood how much they needed a witcher until their fellow men started dying to something they couldn’t kill with iron. Witchers had been made for doing so. Still, tracking it had proven a bit of a challenge. For such a big monster it had been eluding Gladio through the fog and the rain. The tracks were barely there anymore, and if it wasn’t for the trees that the Fiend had crushed on it’s path, Gladio would have backed out towards his camp yet again. 

Gladiolus had been on the hunt for a few hours when he finally saw the mansion ruins sprouting from the ground and groaned almost pleased. It was perhaps a weird ghost of a time this bog and the village nearby were more than just forgotten memories of time no longer there. Fiend’s would usually prefer natural caves, but in the absence of one the witcher could see why the monster would take up residence there. The trees around the place had been destroyed enough so he could only assume the thing had been here for a long time. It probably had hunted on the bog for a while before needing more food and trespassing on the human’s territory. He unsheathed his silver sword and quickly coated it with relict oil, the distinct feeling that the Relict would be waiting sinking in his gut. Fiends weren’t necessarily the brightest, but the monster must have realized that it had been followed. He drank a cat potion, so the darkness of this now rainy night wouldn’t bother him during the fight. Gladio could hear it breathing as he focused, his medallion tingling with the presence of the monster, he could almost smell the decay of the bodies inside and the overall musk of the monster even with the stench of the bog around him. His footsteps were light as he stepped through one of the broken down walls inside the ruins, still to him they sounded heavy and obvious. He knew no being besides witchers - and perhaps some higher forms of vampires - would be able to hear his boots hitting the solid stone of the ruins. Still, he needed to be cautious. He heard the breathing getting louder as he moved with sure steps towards it, at one point the fiend could almost certainly sense his presence disturbing the lair. 

He followed the breathing deeper inside, seeing some skeletal remains littering the ground around, his own heartbeat steady as he prepared for the battle that was soon to be had. The fiend was standing in the middle of a decrypt room, probably a dining hall sometime in the past. Filled with molded chairs and skeletons of whatever it had slain for food. Or whatever unlucky travellers had made wandered into its lair seeking shelter. It was a big one, its deer horns as big as Gladio’s torso. There was one second in which they stared at each other, before it charged him. Gladio quickly rolled out of the way before slashing at one of its legs, a clean cut that splattered blood on the floor and on the witcher. The fiend swatted at him, throwing him against one of the molded tables. He could feel the bruises forming beneath his armor, but he was lucky he supposed; a normal human would have had his bones breaking under the brute force of the fiend. If Cor saw him now he would be furious at his carelessness. Still, he moved up and proceeded to take the battle stance that had been hammered in his mind. Moving with precision around the monster, taking the hits he had to take and enduring (in the back of his mind he thanked the armor, Wolf school ones might not be the heaviest but his set had been crafted by an elven armorsmith and it showed). Trying to find the moments he could slash at the monster was a test of patience that he had to overcome. It was an endurance battle, there was no way he could quickly overpower the thing. The fight was lasting long enough that the potion he had taken started losing its effect. 

“Damn you.” He heard himself saying, even if the Relict could not understand him. 

And perhaps that was why he had forgotten the third eye. When it started glowing, Gladio snarled, his hair falling in his eyes as he tried to keep control of his mind. He shouldn’t have been careless, that would cost him far too much. _”Witchers don’t make mistakes, because when they do, they die.”_ Cor’s words haunted him for a moment. As he was forced to stand as the dizziness and numbness that consumed his mind. Some part of him wanted to find a way to free himself from it, the last bits of consciousness trying to grasp at any useful training. He wanted to be more fearful for his life, he wanted to be consumed by the natural fear that all beings had when faced with death. However, as he saw the Fiend approaching slowly ready to bite off Gladio’s head, all he could think about was how pathetic this all was. How disappointed Cor would be when he didn’t show up for winter, how no one would bother rescuing his corpse and he would be dead for those ungrateful folk back at the village. 

He should have heard the footsteps running behind him sooner, but it was an unfamiliar voice that really broke from the haziness of his mind. “Hey catch!” And a bomb - samun, he identified quickly - hit the fiend straight in the glowing eye, freeing Gladiolus from the hypnosis. 

The wolf witcher didn’t have the time to look at whoever had saved him as he took the opportunity to charge the thing and ram the fiend’s torso with his body and his sword. Not enough to kill it outright, but to make the thing weaker at least. The footsteps behind him moved and he saw a slender, short man, with blond hair and a crossbow in hand ducking to the side, shooting the fiend as he ran.

The fiend trashed, throwing Gladio onto the stone floor and moving towards the other man quickly and with murderous intent. And the way this strange blond dodged told Gladiolus immediately that he was dealing with another witcher. The roll to the side was far too agile and quick for a normal human. He took use of the opportunity to run his sword into the fiend’s torso. The blood gushed all over both witchers, the fiend thrashing around and hitting the men with its claws. However, Gladio - and he assumed the other witcher - knew that it was on his last legs, so he held his ground before launching on to pull his silver sword out of the fiend’s back before thrusting it in again. The other witcher seemed to have the same idea, the point of another silver sword running through the torso coming from the opposite way. That seemed to be enough to finally kill the fiend. 

The gigantic monster’s corpse slumped to the ground and all went silent in the ruins. 

Gladiolus could feel his entire body relaxing as the adrenaline stopped pumping through his veins. He was sore all over from the battle and his head was pulsating with the prelude to a nasty headache. He also felt so unbelievably dirty that even the frigid rain seemed like a better option than just sitting covered in blood and sweat.

Finally, after taking the time to center his mind and calm his battle instincts, Gladio got a good look at the other witcher, a lean man with blond hair and light armor. Of course his eyes quickly scanned the medallion, a cat. He hadn’t ever met a Cat, though Cor would mention a few encounters and how their trials were quite different from the Wolf ones. The man was definitely handsome and he could barely see any scars, which was surprising. There weren’t supposed to be any new witchers, not after most of the schools had been attacked. Gladio himself was one of the last Wolfs trained and made at the Keep. So, this short blond man had to either be incredibly competent or the last made by his school.

“So, wolf, huh?” The blond said with a broad smile. Gladio found the unexpected expression of emotion startlingly bright for a witcher. “I guess cats and wolves can help each other.”

Gladio groaned in acknowledgement before turning and pulling his sword out. Now that the fight was done, he probably needed to drink a potion. He could tell there were a bunch of bruises and his armor was slightly dented on some points. Only then he turned to the Cat witcher. “I have a contract for this fiend.” 

“Oh, so do I.” The man was still weirdly cheerful, walking next to Gladio. “Did the herbalist hire two witchers?” 

“No. No herbalist hired me, it was the village leader.” Gladio was annoyed, and still slightly on edge. He had heard stories of witchers who ended up tracking the same monster. Unfortunately, most ended with the witchers fighting each other for the trophy. He couldn’t say he took any pleasure in the idea of killing another one of his kind.

“Oh, that’s great actually. We can get this big ugly’s head, you take and get your payment and I take and get mine.” The witcher again smiled at Gladio, who was growing more uncomfortable with those constant shows of emotion. It just felt so unnatural. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Prompto, Cat school.” Prompto actually offered him a hand to shake.

Gladio was a bit wary of it, but he shook it nonetheless. “Gladiolus Amiticia, Wolf School.”

“Fancy name.” It was a good handshake at least, firm enough. Prompto’s eyes darted towards the carcass not that far from where they stood. “So,” he vaguely gestured towards the monster. “You wanna do the honors?”

Gladio stared at the other witcher, before sighing and walking towards the carcass. His silver sword felt weightless in his hand. He’d like for it to be a swift motion. A small part of his pride wanted to show off to this stranger, even if it was completely pointless. Still, cutting off the head of a giant beast was always far more of a slow and meticulous work. Nothing pretty to look at in all honesty, and Prompto seemed to agree as he walked to the other side of the room. Gladio watched with the corner of his eyes as the Cat seemed to rummage through whatever scattered belongings were there. Gladio sighed deeply. This was the kind of behaviour Cor always discouraged among the Wolves. 

“Oh, don’t be like that big guy. Monster hunting isn’t always as lucrative.” Prompto looked over his shoulder and gave him a toothy and somewhat fanged grin. 

Gladio just rolled his eyes and went back to decapitating the thing. He should just busy himself with getting the trophy so they could part ways. Working with other witchers was always more trouble than it was worth. 

It was a couple hours until they were backtracking through the bog, Gladio carrying the fiend’s head on his back with Prompto walking ahead making sure no other monsters or beasts would interfere. It was somewhat good to have that guarantee, especially considering that Gladio’s horse was nowhere near them at the moment. 

“So, does your path always bring you around these parts?” Prompto had been trying to start a conversation for most of the way. Gladio didn’t necessarily see the need for it. So instead of replying, he grunted vaguely in reply; He didn’t understand all this need of connection the other witcher seemed to have. Prompto seemed pleased with it though, continuing to talk as if Gladio had given him a full answer. “I don’t usually come here, but I got a good tip from a friend that there were a lot of monsters and no witchers. Besides, the winter is not awful and I could use a place to camp out for the winter.”

He continued rambling and Gladio could almost say it was pleasant to have someone talking to him. There were a lot of times on the road where he’d endure days without someone directing even a word at him, or if they did, it wasn’t usually in such a friendly tone of voice. It made him think of Winter at the keep, of those months by the lighthouse. It was also interesting to see how long the other witcher could last with this one sided conversation.

“By the way, I was considering, if you don’t want to stay in town after you get your reward and don’t mind accompanying me, the herbalist said I could use her barn. I don’t know if it is just me, but I always found that herbalists are the least likely people to try and backstab you. Besides, because of her garden the whole property smells very nice which is always a good change from how towns usually smell.”

Gladio got that. Witcher senses being sharper meant that cities, with their sewers, people who barely showered, and animals, were very overwhelming to stay in sometimes. He hummed in agreement, even if some part of him wanted to be cautious and not accept even more time with the other. Gladio could use some time in a less crowded place where his horse could perhaps eat some real grass. 

“Great!”

It vaguely crossed Gladio’s mind as they finally got to the path that led into town, that Prompto must have also been feeling this weird kinship. Perhaps it was because they were both lone witchers, it was always unusual to find someone who actually got what life as a witcher was like. His horse was still waiting where he had left it, near the makeshift camp with a few signs around it to keep intruders away. Gladio might not be the best at using signs, but he had perfected this combination of yrden to keep Gilgamesh safe from possible attacks when he was off hunting. The black horse huffed as he approached with the trophy. 

“It’s fine, boy.” Gladio let the fiend’s head hit the muddied ground by the horse for a second so he could pat him. “It’s just another witcher, he’s not gonna bother you.” He gave Prompto a look and started strapping the trophy to its position on the side of the saddle. 

He watched from the corner of his vision as Prompto approached the horse carefully and whispered some compliments as he patted the black horse’s neck. Animals were always good judges of characters, or at least Gilgamesh was. He had tried to bite several people that later tried to downpay or literally stab the Wolf in the back. Even the ones that Gladio had trusted with his life. 

“So, big guy, do you need me to wait outside the village?” Prompto asked, looking up at Gladio, somehow still keeping a positive attitude even if he was absolutely drenched in rain. That was when Gladio finally had the time to notice the freckles on his face, but more importantly, he could see the points of his ears now that his hair was drenched and sticking to his face. Prompto seemed to realize where he was looking and for the first time since they met, the cheerful persona dropped. He looked away from Gladio and his hand shot up to cover one of his ears.

“You can ride on Gilgamesh with me and keep him company outside as I grab the money. If they have any complaints, I’m your escort after I rescued you from the fiend.” He didn’t usually go out of his way to make people comfortable, but the way humans acted towards non-humans had never been good. Gladio couldn’t imagine anyone that combined the things humans were distrustful of - like being a witcher and having elven blood - got anything but the worst from people. 

“Oh, thanks.” Prompto had a genuine surprise about this stamped on his face, his smile was back once again as he went on to pat Gilgamesh again. “You hear that? We are gonna be good friends by the end of all this, right Gilgamesh?”

Gladiolus just watched as Gilgamesh huffed on the other witcher’s face, clearly not amused by all this. It was slightly amusing, if he could feel such a thing anymore. It was just disconcerting to see how disconnected the other witcher seemed from what Gladio had been told was their way of life and overall the world around him. He got up on Gilgamesh and offered Prompto a hand, and Gladiolus had to admit being startled when they actually touched each other. Even if they had shook hands, touching someone again felt like something he shouldn’t be doing. Normal people didn’t touch witchers, and even among witchers, touching was incredibly uncommon. The most he could do was sometimes pay for someone in a brothel, but even that he hadn’t done in what felt like ages. It felt absolutely uncomfortable to have people looking at him when he could tell in their eyes that they couldn’t see him as a human. So, feeling even if just a bit of actual touch was weird. 

Prompto was in front of him, and even if he was clearly trying to keep their bodies apart, there wasn’t that much room in the saddle. Gladiolus could smell him, sweat and the peculiar fragrance of herbs that the Trial of Grasses left. There was the particular scent of him as well. It wasn’t bad. Perhaps if it wasn’t for the overwhelming stench of everything around him, he could pay more attention to it. Not that he wanted anything to do with that, but he was just overwhelmed by having a being near him. Cor would chastise him for these kinds of thoughts. His mentor had always been a prime example of how a witcher should act. 

Their ride to the village was uneventful, which Gladio couldn’t complain about. Prompto was quiet during the entire trip, probably, much like Gladio, having been trained to pay attention to every possible sound or threat. With the rain no more than a drizzle now, he could hear the village before he saw it. The faint sounds of people talking to each other and moving around. He rode Gilgamesh down the path just enough inside so that the fiend’s head was in sight of people, who were already looking and whispering among themselves. Gladiolus hopped off, posturing a bit, making sure it was obvious what he was here for. The village leader was walking over with a serious expression - but as he walked Gladio could hear the jangling of coins in his pouch. 

The transaction went as unremarkable as most of these occurrences did. A coin pouch with something around a 100 coins (a lot of money for a place like this, but not enough for this kind of job). He decided not to argue with the look in the man’s eyes and the entire population watching. He could see a few men with their farmer’s tools and even children staring, like just one move might start something. He had heard of witcher’s being attacked by mobs of people who didn’t want to pay or felt disrespected. Gladio could probably take most of them - especially considering there was another witcher nearby. However, he did not want to shed unnecessary blood. Killing might be what he had been trained to do but that didn’t mean he was out looking for people’s blood on his iron sword. 

There were no goodbyes as he climbed back on to Gilgamesh and let Prompto guide him towards the herbalist. No need to dwell on this forgotten town, one of so many he would see in the Path. 

“Lovely place huh?” Prompto’s voice broke the silence when they were far enough away. There was that cheerfulness back on his voice. It sounded a bit stiff, but he was clearly trying. 

Gladio was too tired to keep ignoring him. “Absolutely wonderful.” 

Prompto’s laugh was clear as crystals, and Gladio had to admit it made just the smallest of smiles creep on his lips. The other witcher was absolutely a weird man, and Gladio wasn’t quite as bothered by it as he was before. 

“The herbalist lady is better. One of those outcasts you know? They’re usually the ones that are better with payment.” Prompto clearly had taken the fact Gladio replied as an opportunity to keep talking. 

It was almost amusing, and he couldn’t contain a smirk and a huff at how easy it seemed to be for the other witcher to just bounce back into this cheerfulness. Prompto continued talking, describing the herbalist and how he had stumbled into her garden, and so many other things that frankly Gladiolus only half listened. He was starting to feel the weight of all this time hunting and tracking and fighting. It was a struggle to keep himself awake and focused as Prompto indicated the way they should go. 

Gladio couldn’t say he paid much attention once they got to the cabin. He was tired and couldn’t sense any dangers around. He remained on Gilgamesh’s back as Prompto knocked on the front door and had a cheerful discussion with an older lady, showing her the trophy and apparently explaining the situation. Gladio could hear vaguely “found this friend after doing it and since he’s not going to get paid I thought he could at least share your barn with me”. The woman just gave him a warm smile and nodded at Gladio, who remained stoic as Prompto took a sack of coins from the woman. He then proceeded to walk to the small barn adjacent to the house. It clearly needed repairs, but it was a roof and there was even a basin for them to wash themselves. Which Gladio had to be thankful for. It also smelled so much better than the bog he had been staying at, which was somewhat ironic considering it smelled like animal musk and hay. There were also some torches around the place that granted enough light for it to be clear even for non witchers. He climbed off Gilgamesh and tied it to the side, along a beige almost yellow horse who Prompto had immediately started apologizing to as he made his way inside. 

“Don’t look at me like that, Choco. I came back!” Prompto exclaimed, patting the horse’s neck. It huffed at the witcher and looked away, and Gladio couldn’t help just the hint of a smile that formed on his lip. It was amusing to see that in the end, no matter the school, the horses always ended up being the witcher’s closest relationships. Perhaps it was also somewhat sad, considering it might come from a place of lack of options. It wasn’t like witchers were trained to form connections; they were trained to sever them as quickly as they could. 

Gladio followed suit and took off Gilgamesh’s saddle and reins and proceeded to walk to the other side of the barn. Starting to remove his armor and get everything ready for the night, he took off his chest armor and boots, leaving the cloth and leather parts to dry. 

“Hey big guy-” Prompto began to speak, but stopped, and Gladio could hear his breath picking up. 

Concerned that his companion might be distressed, Gladiolus turned to look over his shoulder and saw the cat witcher standing there, staring. There was something in his golden eyes that Gladio was quite familiar with, perhaps one of the few emotions no witcher seemed to be able to train themselves out of: lust. Their gazes met, and Prompto looked away and in the torch light. Gladio could see that he was blushing. 

“Yes?” he asked, for no other reason than perhaps to poke at the other a bit.

“Just wondering if you wanted the basin first. I’m probably gonna bathe tomorrow.” Prompto had turned his back to him and was clearly setting up to go to rest first. 

Gladio shouldn’t tease the man, and probably shouldn’t act like he was facing a young person in a village that could barely contain their attraction and curiosity over him. And yet, while he might make a decent witcher, he was not always a good person. So he let himself smirk and pulled down his own pants. 

“I will take it for the night, thank you.”

And if he was very aware that Prompto watched him with hungry eyes as he bathed, well, he was enough of a gentleman not to mention. They would part ways in the morning, so Gladio didn’t mind giving him something to think about when he was alone. 

-

Prompto’s jobs usually found him. 

It was a silly thing Aranea used to tease him about back at the School. Back when there was still a School for them to gather. Like, more often than not Prompto would stumble or just run into an opportunity. Like the time that weird siren captured him and called him her son. That had been a terribly weird experience, but after he killed her and made his way back to town, he discovered the townsfolk had set a large reward for it and were overall quite thankful that he had taken care of it. So, everything always seemed to work out in the end. 

This job found him as he was sitting by a stream on a warm summer afternoon. His feet were soaking and his horse had taken to eat some weeds - harmless, Prompto had checked - nearby. He could hear the birds chirping and the sounds of children in the farm he had passed on the way to this stream. It felt sort of idyllic. If witchers ever got to retire, Prompto wished he could build a small cabin somewhere like this. It was a dumb dream, he knew that, yet still it remained, somehow not having been beaten by the harsh reality of the world around him. He’d been distracted by his thoughts when he heard someone approaching hurriedly. His instincts and training kicked in and he grabbed his iron sword from the ground, bouncing onto his feet in a split of a second. 

The young woman that broke the treeline had tears in her eyes, desperation and fear clear in her face. She looked like she’d been running from something terrible and as she saw him, she let out a small scream that startled Choco into paying attention. Prompto quickly dropped his sword and tried to look non threatening.

“Sorry, miss, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He ended up using the same tone he would use with his mare when she was scared. The woman gave him a look like she was confused, but didn’t scream again, which was a good enough sign. “I’m a witcher, so perhaps I can help?”

That took her out of her trance and she looked at him with a desperation of someone being hunted.

“I was… visiting the old graveyard… and this thing just appeared out of the ground and started attacking me. It was the most horrifying sight I’d ever come across!It looked like a woman, but not quite right. It’s tongue just hung out of its body like a corpse come to life. Like she was a corpse taking to life.” The woman was shaking and as Prompto gave her a more clear and attentive look, he could see her arms had gashes like something with long nails or claws had grabbed at her. She also looked young, probably no more than sixteen or something. Basically, a child. 

From the brief description, Prompto could guess it was either a grave hag or a noon wraith. Not a terribly difficult job if he could say so himself. “Well, right on my area of expertise. Can you point me in the graveyard’s direction?” he asked, doing his best to sound nonchalant as he crouched to retrieve his iron sword.

“You are going to… kill it? But I didn’t offer you money or anything.” She seemed confused, as most people were. He gave her a smile, trying to be friendly. She clearly didn’t quite believe him, and part of Prompto worried about what this girl had seen in the world that would make her so distrustful. Then, again Prompto was pretty sure his eyes and the swords didn’t inspire much faith. 

“Don’t worry too much about it. Whatever you can give will be fine.” Prompto didn’t have that much need for the coins. He usually found enough coins among the lairs and abandoned places his hunts took him. Asking for money from people who barely had enough to feed themselves just felt wrong. Aranea always said his witcher training had clearly failed somewhere if he couldn’t even understand the basic point of asking for the right payment. He had to agree, but again, it wasn’t like his mentor had been a good influence. 

She nodded and pointed back the way she had come from, her hand still shaking as she did so. “It’s that way, sir.”

Prompto smiled at her - people usually liked smiles, made him seem less threatening and that was all that Prompto was about. Not being threatening meant folk wouldn’t look at his ears, meant the assholes would underestimate him. And sometimes it would also make scared teenagers relax a tiny bit and stop crying.

“Understood. I’ll be back in a bit. Are you going home or do you want to wait so I can give you a ride there?”

Again, she stared at him like he had just said he was a dragon. He didn’t mind much, using the time to put back his boots and get his mare ready for the walk. Choco wasn’t too pleased, of course, but again, Prompto was pretty sure he just had the world’s sassiest horse. He checked his bag to make sure he had the necessary oils for both kinds of monsters and some bombs just in case. Prompto would love to be able to use his hand crossbow more often, but mostly the thing just hung on the side of the saddle. 

As he climbed onto Choco, he heard the teen girl say,in a voice still uncertain but clearly less frightened, “I will wait here. If it isn’t too much trouble for you.”

“Not at all. I’ll be back in no time.” He waved at her as he guided Choco towards the treeline and towards the monster. 

The woods were weirdly quiet for a sunny day, but Prompto had to guess the fact a teenager had come running down towards the creek had spooked some critters. Still, it made him uneasy. Prompto was not fond of silence. The witcher hearing he had gained made it so that he could always hear even the slightest thing around. And not hearing anything made him think about dead places… Like the school after the fire. It had been absolutely silent when he first returned there to spend the winter, and perhaps a part of him would inevitably always associate silence with those dead halls. With the burned library and the bodies piled up on the garden where they used to grow the herbs needed. In this silent path through the woods, Prompto couldn’t help but feel transported back,to ten years ago…

Prompto shook his head, trying to dissipate the thoughts and the memory haze that always came with thinking about the massacre too much. Reality was more important than memories for sure, and he had something to hunt. Something to focus his mind on, and then later he could drink the cherry vodka on his bag to fend off less real ghosts. It wasn’t a long ride till he saw the woods opening into the cemetery itself, though perhaps calling it a cemetery was too much of a kindness. It was about eight graves with stone markers all arranged in a semicircle. There were no flowers, and most of these graves looked like they hadn’t been managed or cleaned in ages. Prompto couldn’t help but think it was odd. The girl said she had been visiting so he would expect flowers or something of the sort… Or at least some degree of cleanliness. 

Choco huffed as he made her stop just before crossing into the cemetery’s perimeter. He whispered to her as he unmounted and grabbed his hunting equipment. “You’re right, she could like the rustic vibes and all that. I shouldn’t judge that much.” 

He looked around, letting his increased senses take over, trying to find any clues that might be laying around. His eyes focused on the ground for tracks. There weren’t many, though, not at first glance. It wasn’t until he walked over towards one of the graves that clearly looked disturbed. The marker was barely readable, just some words engraved on an old molden cross. This was not straightforward, which was annoying. He could find some tracks around there, definitely hag footprints. He sighed loudly. Grave hags were so annoying with their tongues and claws. Prompto could remember being a young witcher and getting clawed on the back in a moment of distraction. If there was one around, he’d have to keep his guard up. 

He cautiously started following the track, unsheathing his silver sword. Why couldn’t it be drowners for once? He hadn't taken a simple drowners job in almost a year. Aranea would always say he shouldn’t look for the easy jobs. Those were for younger witchers. However, there were no younger witchers anymore, and as much as townsfolk could probably kill a drowner and a water hag if they tried, Prompto always found that those kinds of things tended to end with someone dying. He took a deep breath. His potions weren’t terribly needed at the moment. He just whistled for Choco to go find a safe place, until he called for her. The last thing he needed was for her to get hurt. He’d gotten her though the Law of Surprise for a job in Altissia about six years ago. She was the best thing he had going in his life at the moment. 

The tracks lead him to an old abandoned shack, which again, no shock there. Those kinds of monsters usually preferred places like this. Prompto hoped he’d be able to get here before she tired of the graveyard went for the people in the nearby farmlands and village. It was lucky that the girl had crossed his path and even luckier that she managed to escape the thing’s claws. It was almost unheard of, but Prompto could only assume that sometimes fate and destiny would intervene. 

The shack had no door and it was mostly overrun by the vegetation. Part of the roof had caved in and as Prompto moved inside, he could feel both the temperature dropping and sense the stench of rotten meat. He groaned quietly, the miasma of these creatures always was what got to him the most. The light spilling inside illuminated the shack, the place covered in blood and gore. That was when he saw the man standing in the middle of the room over a hag’s dead corpse. 

Prompto couldn’t contain a hearty laugh at the absurd of the situation. Gladiolus was standing there with a sword and his armor covered with blood and goo. Still, the other witcher still looked amazing, or perhaps it was just something about the light that made him look like he belonged in a painting. Gladiolus turned to him calmly, clearly having heard Prompto’s approach.

“You again.” His voice was nice. Prompto had forgotten that. It had been over a year since they crossed paths on that fiend contract, but still, it was more than Prompto had ever crossed paths with any other witcher. Prompto couldn’t stop himself from smiling at him. “Don’t tell me you were also here for the hag?”

“Not a super official contract, so it’s fine. Besides, you clearly did all the work.” Prompto sheathed his sword, approaching the other witcher mostly to take a look at the corpse. He could feel himself being carefully watched. The Wolf just didn’t seem to be able to trust, and hadn’t for a long time. Which was a terrible statement to how all witchers had been raised and trained. The fact that two witchers meeting was not a relief but instead a problem was… not great. “This is a very clean decapitation.”

“It wasn’t the hardest job I’ve ever taken on.” There was the slightest tinge of pride as he spoke. No real surprise there. Prompto could tell Gladio was mostly acting the part of not caring. Like every other witcher, he had been raised to believe he had no feelings. Prompto was the anomaly in this situation, having learned even before he’d finished his first year on the Path that it was a gigantic lie they told themselves. 

When you raise kids to become monster hunters, when you take them from their families, and everyone turns on them, it is always easier to tell them not to feel. Why would someone whose sole purpose was to kill bother with anything else? It also kept young witchers from just giving up on the path and settling down with someone they cared about. 

“Sure seems like it. Need help burning the rest of the remains?” It was standard procedure, to burn with some firewood and igni just so the corpses of felled monsters wouldn’t attract ghouls. “Last thing the people need is some kids finding this place, and the girl probably doesn’t need ghouls around.”

“The girl?” Gladiolus asked, crouching next to him and already starting to help Prompto to carry the cadaver outside the shack. “The person who hired you?”

“Yeah, I figured you’d have seen or heard her. She was just here, got scratches and all that. Probably should come back to check on her soon.”

Gladio groaned like he wasn’t sure, but Prompto didn’t want to press. Besides, they had a corpse to burn. Gladiolus looked around for firewood while Prompto just made sure to set things in place, igniting it all with a magical sign. It was all mechanical, practiced work between the two witchers. Prompto barely thought of it. Watching it go up in flames, though, made him feel the tension in the air, or perhaps it was just his own muscles tensing up. He didn’t have a love of fire. He didn’t love most of the signs nowadays, in all honesty. He usually burned the bodies alone, so it wasn’t usually a problem. No one there to watch how he stopped moving and just stood there. Some part of his mind asked if the flames that consumed his school had been like this, but a big part of him was aware Gladiolus was speaking, that he shouldn’t let anyone see him like this. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to move a muscle, eyes focused on the flames and imagining all sorts of terrible things. 

The hand on his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts. He looked over his shoulder, slowly, still feeling a bit dazed and not quite back in his own body. The Wolf was standing behind him, expression shielded.

“I’ll ride with you towards the girl. We shouldn’t stay here too much longer.” 

Gladiolus wasn’t asking permission, already quickly walking away. Prompto could appreciate the moment to compose himself, taking a deep steadying breath and tugging on the bracelet on his wrist. Soon enough, he was catching up to the other witcher in the woods.

“So who hired you?” He needed to fill the silence. He hated the silence.

“An older woman on the road. She put a contract on a signpost in a nearby tavern. Said something about coming to visit her friend’s grave and seeing that the graves were turned. Standard job, you know how it goes.” 

Prompto nodded absentmindedly. Not every step of a witcher’s life could be filled with emotion he supposed. Even monster hunting could get awfully dull sometimes. He found Choco actually colluding with Gladio’s stallion, probably whispering bad things about Prompto.It looked like having judgemental personalities was an universal horse trait. He patted his mare with a smile, trying to convince himself it was normal and everything was fine.

Before long, they were both atop their respective horses and Prompto led the way. It wasn’t a long ride, in all honesty, but silence was dreadful. So, as predictable as the ghouls on a battlefield, Prompto started a conversation.

“So the girl didn't seem like she had anything to pay me with, but it doesn’t matter.” 

“Hm.” Gladio was noncommittal, as he had been the first they met. Prompto was not surprised in the least. 

Prompto continued his ramble, this nagging feeling starting to sink into his stomach, like there was a detail he was missing. It was the same as when he walked into the garden during his trials and met Aranea; that distinct feeling that something was not fully right or natural. He shook his head, trying to keep his mind off it all. It was just pointless to overthink things. As the trees gave way to the stream, he saw the girl sitting there, waiting for him. There would be no problem, if not for the soft buzzing of Gladio’s medallion behind him. It was weird, because now Prompto was aware that his own medallion was buzzing and probably had been before when he first met the girl. 

He could feel Gladio grabbing onto his silver sword and he had to interfere. He tried to subtly gesture a “calm down” with his hand. In the same breath, he turned towards the girl and smiled.

“Hey! The hag is gone.” She was clearly on edge, looking at the two of them. Prompto scanned her again and he could now see the parts in which she was not quite human. The way she hovered slightly over the ground, and if Prompto focused on her he could see through her form. A ghost. Not a violent wraith, just probably a ghost. “Did she disturb your grave?”

The girl’s eyes went wide, like she wasn’t quite sure how to react now that he had called her out on her undead status. Prompto smiled openly, trying for comfort in his gesture. There was no particular reason she, as a ghost, would be less deserving of help. That was something Prompto had learned a long time ago. Being elf-blooded and a witcher sometimes made him quite closer to the “monsters” than the humans. 

“It’s fine. No need to be scared.” He made sure to glare back at Gladio, because he could sense the older witcher wasn’t quite playing along.

“You won’t kill me? I swear I never hurt anyone. The only human I talk to is my friend when she comes over to visit.” 

He was a bit startled when Gladio spoke up. “The old lady in the farm, right? The one with the green eyes?”

The girl nodded softly and Prompto could see the mixture of hope and fear within her eyes. This was better than nothing, he presumed. Much better than them all getting into a fight over nothing. He heard Gladio sighing in what he could only assume to be exasperation and he glanced over his shoulder, seeing the other witcher rubbing his face with his hand. 

“It’s fine.” Prompto wasn’t sure which one of them he was saying that to. “You should be able to make it back to the cemetery and nothing else should disturb you there.”

“So you won't hurt me?” She was still skittish but seemed a lot less terrified. 

Prompto grinned at her, hands out so she would see he wasn’t holding any sort of weapon. No need to say that he could probably just cast yrden at her if things went south. She didn’t need to worry about that. “If you won’t be hurting anyone, then why would we?”

Gladio actually chimed in, to Prompto’s relief At least Prompto didn’t feel like he was just playing good witcher with the girl. “You should consider moving on at some point. She won’t live forever, you know.”

Or perhaps it wasn’t as great, but it was definitely better than getting aggressive with her. 

The girl actually nodded emphatically. “I’m just waiting so she won’t be alone when she needs to cross. It’s what friends are for, right? She doesn’t get enough people visiting her, never married and all that.”

It was awfully sweet of her, though it was a weird sentiment. Prompto didn’t have a lot of experience with friendship besides Aranea. This sounded like a dream connection, something out of those plays and songs he used to hear in the taverns. Gladio nodded at her with a soft smile on his lips. The ghost girl beamed and just vanished out of thin air like she had never been there. Upon her disappearance Prompto could hear Gladio groaning.

“You can’t take the monsters at face value all the time.”

“I am aware. I have been a witcher for about twenty years. She could have attacked me earlier or could have killed the old lady, but she didn’t. No need to be suspicious. You wouldn’t kill a troll who hadn’t attacked anyone, would you?”

The look on Gladio’s face was a mix of frustration and agreement and he just sighed again. Prompto grinned widely. He liked winning arguments. It was very silly, but no one was there to judge him. They stayed like that for a second before Gladio just rolled his eyes.

“I should go grab my reward and tell the lady her ghost friend is fine.” His tone betrayed his fatigue and Prompto could admit he felt just as tired. 

Before they split off, Prompto couldn’t resist a parting tease. “Well, if I see you a third time around, big guy, I’m buying you a drink, understood?” Prompto grinned as he watched Gladio turn his horse around. He was expecting the other witcher to be somber and serious in reply. He seemed to be the handsome brooding type in the few short moments Prompto had spent with him.

Instead, he got a smile. A genuine smile that made Prompto’s cheeks redden, struck by how beautiful it was. “I’ll take you on that, Blondie.” And before Prompto could bring himself to reply the other witcher was already on his way.


	2. Chapter 2

Gladio knew he was sometimes vain and prideful. Cor would often chastise him for that, pointing out that no witcher had a hair as well treated as Gladio’s and that no man had as many trophies from fighting melees than him either. Saying that was pride and just him tending to his own ego. And he was right, of course. Gladio couldn’t quite explain why he loved fighting in tournaments that much. Most times people would be sore losers and accuse him of cheating, or some organizers would see a witcher and put some unfathomable challenge for him to face. And there was something about being able to win despite all the absurd and tilted odds against him that made Gladio absolutely pleased. 

The competitors were all gathered in a room in the insides of the arena, waiting for the door to be open so they could start the melee. He saw a few knights, one in particular from Tenebrae that looked like he would be Gladio’s biggest adversary. He was studying the man when a hand grasped onto his shoulder. 

“Big Guy! It seems like I owe you a drink after all!”

Gladio could almost feel the laughter in his mouth as he turned around to see Prompto standing there. Their last meeting had happened a while back, what had it been? Five months? Six? The other witcher hadn’t changed, if not for a new scar on his neck. Very thin, but Gladio could tell it had not been a scratch. Prompto had that wide smile on his lips, and Gladio felt his own mouth twitch into a subtle mimic of his gesture. 

“It seems you do.” He grabbed Prompto’s arm as he spoke, a way to make sure the other man knew he was glad to see him. “Assume you’re gonna be in the melee?”

“No, I’m just here to look at all of you.” Prompto laughed at his own joke, and Gladio could tell the other participants were side-eyeing the duo of witchers. “Of course I’m here for the melee! Not usually my scene, but a friend insisted I joined so here I am.” Prompto actually moved away and bowed like an actor on a stage. 

“Hm.” He wasn’t quite sure to react to that. He was happy to know one of his opponents, but it was just weird for him to be doing that. Weird that Prompto even had “friends”. Gladio had Cor he supposed, and Iris, but he wasn’t sure if he’d call Iris a friend or someone he tried to protect. 

Prompto himself just shrugged with a half smile. “She will host a dinner afterwards” And he lit up for a second, clearly having an idea. “You should join us! That way I can pay you for that drink.”

“Wouldn’t that be more of your friend paying me a drink?”

“That’s a technicality.” The other witcher waved his hand dismissively.

Gladio probably shouldn’t take the invitation, he had a room and he didn’t plan on staying there too long. Besides, he had been chatting up the barmaid and he was hoping to get her into his bed after the tournament. Still, perhaps curiosity got the better of him, so he gave Prompto a half smile and nodded. 

“I suppose I can join you, after I win.”

Prompto’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked at Gladio with somewhat a teasing look on his face. “We will see that, Big Guy.” Gladio could tell beneath the teasing, there was a degree of flirting. Or perhaps, he was just reading too much into it. 

He heard the horn outside, announcing the beginning of the melee. The gate to the arena opened and Gladio gave one last look to Prompto before turning and walking outside. The crowd was cheering as the Announcer read all their names. He identified the man from before as Prince Ravus of Tenebrae. He and Prompto were announced together, _“Two witchers this time. Gladiolus Amiticia of the Wolf School and Prompto from the Cat School”_

The audience wasn’t fully on board with them, but that was unsurprising. He unsheathed the blunt sword they handed for the tournament, and listened. He could feel the blood pumping on his own veins, he could hear the breathing of his competitors. Most were already breathing heavy, and Gladio could hear the stupidly fancy metal armors clinking as they positioned themselves. Before Prompto arrived, Gladio had already figured who were the easier ones to take down, so as the horn signalled the starting of the fight echoed through the arena, he was already moving. 

The first three didn’t really stand a chance, they were old retired knights that probably had had their golden days, but now had become far too busy with their wine. He could hear the awe of the crowd, mixed with quite a few boos. He grinned as the third fell to the ground, and turned his head over his shoulder as he heard someone running towards him. It was a young knight, and Gladio did not feel bad when he dodge the man’s attack easily and proceeded to swing his sword at the man’s knees. One swift arc to drop him to the ground shouting in pain. Gladio scanned the rest of the arena. He could see the prince at one point engaged in a two versus one duel, and he could also see Prompto on the other side of the arena fighting a big hulk of a man. It was fascinating how fast and acrobatic he was moving around his adversary. Truly like a cat. 

There were still quite a few adversaries standing before he had to focus on either of them though. So he just adjusted his grip on his sword, gave one look at the young knight on the ground, clearly in too much pain to continue and walked into the mess of fighting knights. He let his instincts guide him through the motions. Every once in a while his eyes would spot Prompto, who seemed to be avoiding engaging in battle. Gladio couldn’t stop a smirk from curling up his lips. It would be fun if in this tournament with tens of knights, the two witchers faced each other at the end. 

It wasn’t too long until he heard someone moving quickly towards him with steady paces, Gladio had to move quickly to get his sword to parry the attack. His sword clashed with his attackers as he turned to face his opponent. His golden eyes met with Ravus’ and he could feel the will to fight pumping on his veins. This was his real challenge here. They were both skilled swordsmen, so it wouldn’t be easy. They didn’t talk or taunt each other, Ravus moved quicker then him, but Gladio had so many years of practice. 

Ravus was an attacker, that much was clear. Not interested in the patience game many fights turned into. Gladio’s form had always been more defensive, he just had to take the blows until the prince tired himself out. The trick was that he didn’t seem like he was. It reminded Gladio of training partners he had as a kid so much. Witchers that had grown up with him, and one day never returned to the keep. Defenders lived more than attackers he had learned. 

Ravus had started panting, and Gladio was so aware he could barely hear any other sounds. Perhaps they had the audience mute, which would be an achievement. People in Altissia were so often loud. He felt the pride swelling inside of himself, and he decided to take a risk. He could throw a big swing at the prince’s torso and this would be over. Gladio started charging the thinner man, but he soon realized that had been a mistake. His eyes focused on Ravus and the prince smirked at him, deftly dodging Gladio’s attack. 

Gladiolus cursed between his teeth as the momentum of the attack left him absolutely open. _“Witchers that take risks end up dying, Nyx. Do it more like Gladio, wait.”_ the irony of remembering Cor’s words now was not lost to him. He was expecting the sword to hit his back, but instead he felt a body clashing against his and both went tumbling to the ground. 

He identified Prompto by his scent more than anything, and it didn’t take any mystery solving mind to know what had happened. The cat witcher had shoved him out of the way, probably taking the blow on the process. Gladio could feel the anger over this boiling inside him, but before he could shout at the other witcher for this reckless behaviour, Prompto was shouting at him. “Fuck, Big guy, shout at me later. Just go get him!” The blond was gesturing wildly at the prince.

Gladio nodded quickly before focusing. He was still angry, and perhaps that was what motivated him in his next movements. Gladio was mad that Prompto had taken the hit for him, perhaps a small part of him not liking that this was the second time the cat saved him. Though this was far less dire than the first time. He didn’t have time for being patient and careful, he just put pressure on the prince. In the end, not stopping for anything. He put all the pressure he could, until Ravus let himself open. The prince couldn’t possibly match a witcher’s stamina. It was just a loss for him already for all that Gladio cared. He would just make sure the hit hurt. 

It wasn’t hard, Ravus dodged out of a hit in a clumsier way than he had before and Gladio was swinging his sword straight into the man’s perfect noble face. He could hear the sound of his nose cracking and the audience going wild. Gladio himself was covered in sweat and still filled with rage; 

The final horn echoed through the arena, as the announcer officialized Gladio’s win. He watched from the corner of his eye as Prompto dragged himself up. 

Gladio barely paid attention to the prizes he received. The entire ceremony of delivering them was usually one of his favorite parts of the entire affair. Pretty noble women delivering prizes and the money, and the crowd either silent or going wild. This time he was far too busy with how aware and frustrated he was at Prompto. At least it was mildly amusing to see Ravus storming off like this entire situation deeply offended him. Gladio gave the poor noble woman there a sympathetic look, and she gave him a soft smile. 

Both of the witchers walked away together from the formality, Prompto patted his elbow as they were walking and gestured for Gladio to follow him. As they moved away from the arena, and into the crowded streets of Altissia, Gladiolus couldn’t quite contain his frustration at the other witcher. Grabbing Prompto by the arm and pushing him against a wall. 

He didn’t mean to raise his voice when he spoke up, but he couldn’t quite contain it. “You shouldn’t have taken that hit for me, you could have won the melee.” Gladio couldn’t disguise his annoyance at the dumb attitude the other witcher had taken.

Prompto’s laugh was dry and a bit bitter. “Gladio, I don’t know what world you’ve been living in, but if an elf-blooded witcher won the tournament, it would be very bad for the non-humans living here.” 

Gladio gritted his teeth, cause Prompto might be right. It was still just stupid. Their faces had become close during this movement, and as he calmed himself enough to realize it, Gladio looked away, suddenly embarrassed. He could not let this get the better of him though, it was not the point. Of course the other witcher noticed, and was smirking.

“Just don’t do that again. Not for me, not for anyone.” He moved away from Prompto. “Just guide me to your friend’s place, you own me an ale.” 

“You will like her, though, be careful that she doesn’t eat you up.”

He hadn’t expected that Prompto’s friend would be rich. However, perhaps he should have. The mansion was beautiful, but felt far too fancy for their sweat covered bodies. Prompto knocked on the door, looking over his shoulder towards Gladio.  
“Just try not to be too grumpy inside.   
Gladio nodded, feeling his body tensing up, but he focused on maintaining his expression neutral. The door was opened by a woman dressed in black who seemed incredibly unfazed by the two people standing there. She was pretty and in another world, Gladio might have tried to flirt with her, but it felt awfully disrespectful to flirt with Prompto’s friend like this.   
“Blondie, you brought a friend.” She turned on her heels and didn’t wait for an answer. Prompto walked in right after her, gesturing for Gladio to follow him inside. The Wolf witcher followed him inside, trying not to let the paranoia get the better of him. It would be fine. The mansion was dark and decorated in a fashion that seemed both incredibly stern and fanciful. He could hear a piano being played, and people talking.  
He turned to Prompto, grabbing his shoulder to make sure they were far enough so Aranea would not listen.   
“You did not mention it would be a party.”  
“Don’t worry, Big guy, I’m sure the ladies will still fawn over you with all your… Ways.” Prompto sounded like he was teasing, but again, he also sounded like he was flirting.   
Ahead of them, Gladio could hear their host stopped walking and an amused soft chuckle from her. Immediately, he let go of Prompto and moved away, again feeling somewhat embarrassed. He continued walking, as Aranea turned away from them and opened a set of doors. There were not a lot of people inside, Gladio could count about ten nobles, most of the giggling as Aranea declared sounding absolutely unamused. “My witcher friends have decided to join us for the night, treat them well, and _do not bother them_ ” Her tone was mildly threatening, and Gladio had to admit he liked her a bit more for that.   
Prompto moved further into the room, talking to Aranea for a moment as Gladio was surrounded by young noble women who all wanted to talk about how he had done great at the tournament. Gladio indulged them for a while, he had to admit they were very complimentary of his performance and that was, to say the least, very flattering. Yet, as much as he usually enjoyed when ladies gave him attention, he couldn’t help if his eyes kept finding themselves going back towards Prompto, who was very excitedly talking to his friend. He wanted to join them, but it felt somewhat weird to interfere. He could only assume they hadn’t met quite as often as wanted to, with Prompto being on the Path and all that. Eventually, he smiled politely at the lady, and moved away from them. Finding a place to sit in peace for a second, sitting in one of the many loveseats that were around this room, next to a young man all dressed in black and holding a cane. He looked at Gladio when the witcher sat and gave him a quick smile.  
“You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself too much.”  
“Neither do you.” He didn’t mean to sound as aggressive, but frankly, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk more with nobles.   
The young man gave him a smile, then looked towards where Prompto and Aranea were now talking to a man wearing glasses with a big scar over his eyes. “If you want his company, I’m sure Aranea would not mind it. In fact, I’m sure she would love the time to flirt with my companion over there. And I would appreciate not having any company.”   
For a young noble - Gladio could only assume he was a young noble, with the way he was dressed and the rest of the people in this party - he was incredibly forthcoming and clearly bored. Gladio grinned at him, and looked over the trio a bit more, and for a moment, he caught Prompto looking back at him. Their eyes met and Gladio smirked at the man, looking towards a table where there was quite a big amount of drinks and bottles of several exoctic liquors. That seemed to pass the message across, and the Cat gave him a big smile before excusing himself from his group and beckoning Gladio closer with his hand.   
“Well, I will leave you be.” he said towards the young noble as he got up and started walking towards the table.   
“Amazing.” The young man was deadpan, but Gladio could detect just the slightest amusement in his tone.  
He caught up to Prompto by the table, and the shorter witcher started talking right away. 

“I’m sorry I left you all alone, but I felt like I owed Aranea an explanation for bringing you over.”

“You seem to owe a lot of people a lot of things, Blondie.” He couldn’t resist teasing him, especially using the nickname Prompto’s friend seemed to have for him. And well, if he said that last word with a tiny bit of the seducing voice he usually reserved for the ladies he was trying to bed, well, the other witcher had started with the flirting (Or so he would tell himself, ignoring that he himself had been teasing him since their first encounter).

Prompto blushed and stumbled a bit as he served two cups of what Gladio could easily identify to be absinthe. Gladio could not contain the smirk on his lips, as Prompto handed him the glass.

“Well, at least the drink I can give to you, now.”

As Gladio drank it all on one go, he smirked at Prompto wolfishly. “I hope you don’t expect this will be enough.” Gladiolus grabbed the bottle from the table. “Now, I assume your friend has a balcony or a garden, care to join me there?”

Prompto gulped down his drink before answering, in a voice that was more hunger and want then embarrassment. “Sure. Follow me.”

He guided Gladio out of the sitting room and into a small patio bathed in moonlight. There was a convenient stone bench that they could sit together, neither of them even pretend to not let the sides of their bodies press against each other as they sat there. Gladio took another drink, this time straight from the bottle. It was hard for a witcher to get intoxicated, it didn’t mean that Gladio would not tempt fate. 

“So, how do you know Aranea?” He said, passing the bottle to the other witcher.

Prompto seemed somewhat embarrassed as he took a small drink from the bottle and started speaking. 

“I’m not sure how much you know about the Cats. Well, besides our incredible fame of being backstabbers and all that. I don’t know how much you know about High Vampires either.” He looked over at Gladio, as if wanting a reply.

“Not like Katakans and all that, you mean the ones that can be like humans for ages. The ones witchers can’t actually kill.” Gladio had crossed paths with one back when he and Cor used to move together, and his mentor had instilled in Gladio the fear of them and the fact that it was better to let them be. “Was lucky enough to only have met one.”

“Yeah, those. And I guess you can say you’ve met two.” Prompto was all edge during that, Gladio could feel the tension in his entire body. The Cat was probably terrified, and Gladio couldn’t quite blame him. He was a bit freaked out by the implication that their host was a predator like that. “I’d say not to worry, but you can’t deny she’s like, dangerous to some people. Like, she only feeds on people who agree to do so, I promise. And besides slaughtering the people who burned down the School, she has not been violent in my presence. Fuck, this is not making a lot of sense is it?”

“Not really, but I’m willing to listen.” Gladio tried to not let his hunting instincts take the better of him, especially considering he knew he could not be a Higher Vampire like this.

“I don’t know how wolves do it, but at my school during the trial, we had to go through this maze in the woods. The objective was to prove your stealth.”

“We had that during our trial, but caves and a giant. Lots of boys died by his club and fists.” Gladio knew the thing was probably still alive by the school, one of the many reasons they had given up on it. It made him somewhat angry that the slaughter of those boys had been allowed like that.

“Understood” Prompto continued, taking another swig. “We didn’t have a giant, we had Aranea. She had an agreement with the people who founded the school. Staying there, cutting down the weak and feeding on them. And letting the ones who were good enough pass.” Gladio had to bite his own tongue to not shout at Prompto for befriending the monster that had killed his brothers. “I wasn’t good, Gladio. I was fourteen and terrified, and my brothers in the blade had used me as bait for the drowners so I was bleeding already. I remember being scared and cold and trying to find my way, and stumbling into this tall woman with black clothes. She should have killed me, Gladio, but she didn’t, cause even if she had fangs and her eyes were red I asked her for help. I don’t remember much, I remember she bandaged my rooms and put me in a bed. I was out for a few hours. She mocked me for my behaviour, and told me I should try another path for my life. I wanted to be a witcher though, foolish fucking child I had bought all their lies.”

“And she just let you go?”

Prompto nodded weakly. “I was the only boy to complete the trials that year. And ever since that day, whenever I was in the School for winter I would visit her, whenever there was a child who I could see being better off not being a witcher, I’d give her a warning, so she’d give them the chance. The first time she just laughed and told me my Grass Trial must have failed somewhere, cause I had far too much heart.”Prompto took a big gulp of the absinthe. “When the school burned she moved here. I come here some winters, I guess it’s nostalgia? The last two remaining things that School made.” He sounded sad, and Gladio didn’t even try to stop himself from throwing his arm around Prompto and giving him somewhat of a hug. When they had come for the Wolf school, Gladio had been so relieved that at least a dozen of them survived. The place had been cruel, but it was his home. If the Keep had been burned to the ground, he didn’t know what he would have done. “I’m sorry” Prompto said, shoving the bottle into Gladio’s unoccupied hand. “You clearly didn’t sign up to this.” He didn’t try to move out of the hold though. 

“I did ask for your story with her.” Gladio took a swig of the drink.

Prompto gave him a weak laugh as a response. And yes, the mood had been severely damped by this dour talk. They stayed in silence for a while, something that clearly made Prompto fidget. So Gladio indulged him on some innocuous talk about their latest hunts. That seemed to get the other’s witcher's mind off things and helped Gladio ignore the fact their host was a vampire. The absinthe probably had a lot to do with it as well. 

Eventually, the moon was up enough in the sky that he could tell it was very late, and even if he tried to ignore it, his body was clamoring for a bed and some sleep. Still, as Gladio turned to look at Prompto, he was distracted by how the light illuminated the other witcher’s profile. He was left speechless, the freckles doting his cheeks and that somewhat mischievous and melancolic light on his eyes. Gladio didn’t think when he moved his hand to touch Prompto’s cheek. His finger traced the freckles, and he couldn’t help to notice that Prompto’s skin had remained soft through everything. The blond stared at him, like a deer startled by a predator. 

_“Are you gonna finally kiss me, Big Guy?”_ He couldn’t tell if Prompto had actually said those words, or if he had just wanted it so bad that he had imagined it.

Still, he found himself replying. “Yeah, I will.” Before leaning in and just kissing him.

Prompto kissed him back and it was a good kiss. Gladiolus would not be ashamed to say he had been with plenty of people in his life, and sometimes people just matched or didn’t when it came down to it. And he could very much say Prompto and him were a great match. The blonde didn’t take long to maneuver himself to staddle Gladio’s hip. He had a lot of energy and was not quite as demure as Gladio had imagined. And that was incredibly… hot. 

When their lips finally parted, Prompto chuckled and Gladio’s breathing wasn’t exactly smooth. They didn’t talk much, just went back to kissing soon enough, like only two people desperate for touch and comfort could. Gladiolus didn’t really see the point of being modest at the moment, so he just let his hands slide up Prompto’s thighs and eventually settle themselves on the other witcher’s ass. Prompto made a soft noise among the kisses that probably could be easily missed if Gladio’s hearing wasn’t as fine as it was. He was quite aware he was a great lover, having been told that by several people, still, actually seeing and hearing the pleasure he could bring people easily always was better.  
Eventually, they parted once more, Prompto resting his forehead against Gladio’s and staring deep into his eyes - that part was a bit disconcerting if the Wolf had to admit. 

“We can use Aranea’s guest room if you wanna take things further.”

Gladio pondered for a moment, because he wanted to do things to Promptom that was clear in his mind. However, the idea of just fucking on a vampire’s guest room made him not completely comfortable. So instead he nuzzled Prompto’s cheek and whispered.

“Let’s save it for somewhere more private some other time. If you don’t mind keeping things clothed.”

Prompto gave a soft chuckle that was somewhat endearing. “No problem, Big Guy, I’m pretty sure fate will bring us together somewhere more private in the future.”

Gladio would have laughed if it didn’t feel so foreign to himself to do so. Yes, it did seem like Fate kept insisting they met again and again. Instead of saying anything though, he just kissed Prompto again.

\----------

There was an irony to the fact that now, whenever Prompto took a job, he expected to run into Gladiolus. It might not have been that many times - three, but who was really counting - but it was more than everyone else he’d meet on his trips. And well, the kisses last time had been, well, had been a big incentive for Prompto to start scanning every place he went for a certain Wolf School witcher. 

It was an accident when he finally encountered them. Though it wasn’t quite Gladio that Prompto encountered. He was tying his horse to a post outside this tavern in a small town in the middle of nowhere, it was ridiculously small and terrible. If he had any other choice, he would have travelled father. However, winter was bound to arrive soon and he’d have to find where he would spend it. The last time it had been quite challenging, he didn’t want to return to the School. It was the standard for the rest of witchers, go back and spend winter in their Schools, among whoever was left. There was no one for Prompto though, and he had learned in the last time that spending time near villages made him a very easy target.

The Wolf Witcher he found was older, with very short hair, he rode his horse in and their eyes met. It felt heavy and tense, a bit like when first meeting Gladiolus. Except this time, Prompto had not just saved the man’s life. He gave the man a smile, because it felt like the right thing to do.

“I hope you don’t mind sharing an inn with me, Wolf.” It always paid off to be nice, even if people weren’t nice back. 

The Wolf arched an eyebrow as he got off his horse. “I don’t have problems if you don’t, Cat.” 

Prompto gave him a polite nod, feeling absolutely awkward. Part of him wanted to ask about Gladiolus, but part of him did not want to put the other Witcher in a terrible position. Not every Witcher was as receptive with other Schools. Luckily, he didn’t have to, as this Wolf gave him a once over and asked nonchalantly.

“Are you Prompto?”

“Yes!” He immediately realized how excited he was over that. “Do you know, Gladio?”

The older witcher nodded. “He should be inside the tavern, actually. I’m Cor.” The man didn’t gesture for a handshake or anything of the sorts. Just kept staring, which was incredibly uncomfortable. Prompto couldn’t imagine himself winning the staring contest that was going, but he tried his best to not just give up. Eventually, though, he looked away and down. 

“You should go meet him.” Cor was incredibly nonchalant about it, turning his back to Prompto and going to tend to his horse. 

Prompto patted Choco on her neck before deciding to go inside the inn. Trying not to be too excited about possibly seeing his friend - Gladio and him had to be considered friends by this point, right? As he stepped inside, it didn’t feel homey and welcoming at all, more like cramped and smelling of sweat and vomit. Just the kind of place he was used to stepping in. Prompto quickly made sure his hair was covering his ears, and proceeded to do a quick scan of the room. It wasn’t hard finding Gladio, sitting alone at a table at the corner, the one with a clear view of the entire room. A very typical witcher behaviour, keep an eye on all threats, and humans were definitely a threat. 

Prompto didn’t make a big deal as he approached the table, he could already sense the looks of disapproval of the villagers at yet another weirdly armored witcher walking in. As he got close enough, Gladio commented, almost sounding amused.

“I’m starting to worry that you are following me.”  
Prompto gave a quiet laugh as he sat on the bench across from the Wolf. “This time, the witcher outside, Cor? He told me you were inside.”

“Did he? Huh.” Gladio took another sip of the ale that was in front of him.

“Yeah.” Prompto looked back towards the barkeep, considering if he should ask for an ale or a room, but the man looked like the most unfriendly grizzled man he had ever crossed paths with, so for now, Prompto turned back to Gladio. “So, you and Cor heading up for Winter? It’s getting close.”

“Yeah, he sent me a note if we wanted to do the track up the mountains together.” Another sip from the older witcher. “You have plans for winter?”

Prompto let out a nervous laughter, that was perhaps too loud for the tavern, as everyone stopped their conversations and he could feel the eyes on him. He was about to say something when Cor sat next to Gladio across the table from him, and both Wolves glared at the other patrons. He felt so embarrassed about making a bit of a scene. 

“No. Winter is a mystery.” He didn’t feel like mentioning the obvious part about how his School was not an option. Not in front of Cor, no offense to the guy, Prompto just didn’t know him. 

There was a beat of awkward silence there when all of them were waiting for someone to say something. And of course, Prompto was the weakest one, he could not handle silence at all, so he had to clearly start a conversation with them. 

“So, any interesting contracts?” Usually that got witchers going, talking about the unifying and forever there factor.

Gladio gave him a barely noticeable smirk, before starting to speak. “Well, some ruins not too far from here. Some Sorcerers old lair and as usually happens, a Golem that outlived its creator. A young man had gone after riches and never returned, so his parents paid me to go figure out. Found his smashed remains near the Golem.” 

Prompto nodded, more often than not when exploring or on jobs, you’d cross paths with things like that.

“At least it wasn’t a Gaskain.” Prompto added. “Once near Altissia I went in expecting Golems and perhaps some wraiths, and got faced with one of those Ugly guys. Not fun, and I wasn’t as prepared as I’d like.”  
Cor gave a nod, and actually spoke up. “Altissia had a vampire problem, whenever I take a job around there, I make sure to carry some Black Blood.”

There was a beat of tension, as Prompto shot a glance at Gladio trying to figure out if his friend had told the other Witcher about the vampire situation. He got a quick stare and small head shake, before Gladio turned to Cor with a smooth transition of conversation.

“You can’t resist being the tutor, huh? We’ve all passed our Trials, Cor, we know the potions.” There was a level of teasing in his words, again just barely there through the deadpan tones most witchers took to their words. 

Cor turned to look at Gladio and shook his head in something akin to exasperation. “Being helpful, you don’t make it to my age in the Path if you don’t learn a thing or twenty about helping other witchers. We are a species on extinction.”

“Much like non-humans and monsters.” Prompto added without much thought, it wasn’t until Cor’s yellow’s eyes found him with a calculating motion, like it was the first time he actually saw Prompto. The blond suddenly felt very aware of his ears and the way he posed himself. 

“I see.” Was all the other witcher added in response, before getting up. “I will grab a drink for me, do you want something, Prompto?”

“Sure, I wouldn't mind some ale.” He tried not to let the relief show too much on his words. He turned his head to watch as Cor made his way towards the barkeep. As Prompto looked around the place, his instincts that something wasn’t quite right had started buzzing. He could see a group of five or so men sitting on the other side of the place, near the door, all staring intently at the witchers. They had the air of drunk and stupid.

“Fuck, I just wanted some peace…” He whispered through clenched teeth.

Gladio's answer was a grunt of acknowledgement. Prompto turned back to face his friend, sighing deeply in the process. 

“They have no chance against _a_ witcher, with three it’s like they have a death wish.”

“Stupidity and alcohol make every idiot think they are the best fighter in the land.” Gladio sounded annoyed, taking another sip of the ale.

He could hear them vaguely saying something as he could only assume Cor was passing them on his way back. Prompto at least hoped they’d had the decency of not starting a brawl in the tavern, because that would just be rude to the owner. Soon enough there was a mug of ale in front of him, and Cor was sitting back in his place. 

“Thanks.” He mumbled to the other, before taking a big swig of the thing. It tasted like bad cheap ale, but he was not about to complain. At least he could be sure it wasn’t piss. 

They sat in uncomfortable silence, all taking sips of their drinks and waiting. You should never take the first strike against humans, it could lead to riots or mobs. 

“Not sleeping here.” Cor declared, speaking barely a whisper so only the witchers could hear. “Don’t think the bartender would have any qualms letting them walk up to our rooms when we are asleep. Better to camp out in the woods.”

“You should come with us.” Gladio spoke to Prompto.

“Yeah, it would be dangerous to stay here alone.” He agreed, and for a second he could see Gladio frowning like he was about to add something else, but before he could, it started.

“HEY YOU MUTANTS!” One of the men shouted and Prompto could only sigh, because he couldn’t even finish his damned drink. “We don’t take kindly to your kind around these parts!”

A few other voices shouted agreement, Gladio got up looking at all of them. Prompto couldn’t take his eyes off the witcher. He looked both ready to snap, it was scary and well, hot. He mentally reprimanded himself, because it was not the moment for it. 

“If you have a problem-”

Before he could finish something and call them for a fight, Cor stepped up as well, looking far less threatening. “We were just leaving.”

Prompto rushed to get up as well, staying behind would be a stupidest move he could ever make. So, as the entire tavern watched, the three witchers walked out in line, the only stop being for Cor to hand the barkeep some gold to pay for the drinks. Or so Prompto would have hoped, but he was the last in the line of witchers, and as he was passing the troublemakers one of the men shouted.

“Yo, this one is an elf as well!”  
Before Prompto had time to react the man shoved him against the wall, hard enough to make the blonde witcher’s head bang loudly against the wood. His vision got a bit fuzzy and he could only think _Fuck not again_. He’d have his share of farmers threatening him and being aggressive, it always ended up badly for the humans, but it made it impossible to come back to places for a long time. Till people forgot his face. 

Before he could defend himself, he saw Gladio moving impossibly fast and pushing the man away. Standing between Prompto and the villagers. They had thrown the first punch, so the witchers could in theory stand their ground. Not that it would matter in the long term, Prompto knew. 

“We are leaving. Let him be.” Gladio’s voice was close to a growl as he spoke.

Prompto grabbed Gladio’s arm, trying to pull him away from this. He didn’t want his friend to be in trouble, he had heard about mobs of angry villagers just killing witchers. Cor had walked back in as well, standing next to Gladio. The tension was very high inside the entire place, and Prompto just wanted to leave.

The man sounded like he wanted to reply, but Cor spoke again.

“If something happens to any of us, next when you need someone to kill your ghouls and deal with monsters that are destroying your crops. No one will come.”

Remind them of the importance of witchers. Try to de escalate. Prompto liked that far more than an actual brawl. He heard the barkeep speaking up from the side.

“Let them go, you idiot! Don’t want to tell your wife you died fighting witchers in my tavern. The blood would stain the floor.”

Cor pulled both of them outside as on queue, taking that opening. Gladio standing behind Prompto this time, close enough that he could feel how tense the bigger man was. As they got close to the horses, he heard Gladio speaking.

“You should come with us, to the Keep.” Prompto looked over his shoulder, his head starting to feel less light and hurting. Their eyes met and he could tell Gladio was speaking out of worry and want. “No one will care and we have plenty of room. You shouldn’t spend time alone.”

Prompto gave him a weak smile. It was a nice comfort proposal and he couldn’t say he wasn’t tempted by it…A lot. There was no immediate answer from him, and somehow looking at Gladio; Prompto knew he wasn’t expecting an answer just then. And for a second, as they were riding outside the tavern he started considering it for real. He had no plans for winter, and the perspective of spending even more with Gladio was something he quite enjoyed. Still, he controlled his tongue, very aware he would be a stranger going there. And that scared him some, besides the winter was a long time. What if Gladio became bored of him? They hadn’t spent more than a day and a night together. 

They rode together until the sunset became night, finally setting for camp underneath a tree looking over a small valley. Gladio gathered firewood, Cor lit the fire with a sign and Prompto was ordered by both to rest sitting against the tree. 

“Cannot believe we didn’t have a swallow.” He heard Cor whisper to himself.

Prompto decided to offer the man the kindness of not replying. Even if he said it was fine, he was also aware that three witchers not having a healing potion among themselves was an incredibly foolish move. Gladio also maintained the silence, munching on some stale bread and looking incredibly sour. Prompto looked at him, trying to make up his mind. 

“So, your Keep is a long ride from here?” Prompto asked eventually.

Gladio looked up, eyes betraying the stone face he tried to keep.

“About a week’s ride, up the mountain.” Cor gestured with his head towards the mountain range at the distance. 

“I see…” Prompto’s eyes turned back to Gladio. “You are aware I don’t speak less in winter, right?” He tried to sound light and jokey about it, but the worry was there in the back of his words. Gladio would absolutely grow annoyed at his behaviour, when they were stuck in a keep for weeks upon weeks. 

Gladiolus actually had one of those quick and rare smiles curl up in his lips. “Was not expecting you to.”

Prompto smiled back at him, thanking in the back of his mind that the light of the fire probably wouldn’t let either of them see the blush coming up his cheeks. 

“Then I shall join you for winter, if that is fine with you, wolves?”

“It will be fun to have a Cat over.” Gladio’s smile broadened as he spoke, and Prompto wished he could kiss him. Instead he heard Cor give an amused half-hearted chuckle and became so very aware they were not alone. 

\---

The snow covered the mountains around the Keep. Everything white and cold. They had arrived a week before it started falling, Titus and Luche had arrived before them. Both had opened their mouths to question Prompto’s presence, as Gladio expected, and he stepped between them and his friend. His look and his assurance that he was a friend and was spending winter with him. Cor had given them a look, backing him up in silence. The other two had just shrugged and moved away from them. Gladio guided Prompto to his quarters and the area he usually kept during winter, or whenever he was over. He had occupied a round room atop of a tower, decorating it far too much with far too much expensive and nice furniture, that he had commissioned not too long after the Keep had gotten attacked, a move to try and make the void of destruction less obvious. They had settled their things, and Gladio had taken Prompto around the Keep.

The first week was just everyone working to make sure any problems the Keep had were fixed before the first snowfall followed by quiet meals near the fireplace. At night, he and Prompto would play gwent or drink together. The most noteworthy part was the fact since the first night, they had an unspoken agreement to share the bed. Still, neither of them seemed capable of doing what they had done in Altissia again. Gladio could already tell his fellow witchers were expecting it, but it felt wrong to do it here. It felt like he would be breaking some sort of rule he wasn’t aware. Yes, all of them had fooled around plenty back when they were teens. However, now, they were grown witchers, they weren’t supposed to have this kind of intimacy with other witchers. Especially not ones from different schools. 

It had been three days since the snow had fallen, basically locking all of them in. The only reason any of them stepped foot outside was to try and deal with the wolves that had been houding the place, after the few goats and their poor horses. Gladio hated killing wolves, but he’d kill them if they dared to touch Gilgamesh. So, for now he and Prompto had decided to go out into the cold to patrol the outside walls for any damage or possible problems. Monsters usually didn’t come out in winter, neither did bears. So it was mostly uneventful, just the two walking side by side through the ramparts. Gladio counted on his head how long it took before the Cat broke the silence, it was taking longer as they spent more and more time together, but he still felt the need to break it.

“So, have you ever tried the law of surprise?”  
Gladio shook his head. He’d never tried, especially since they didn’t make witchers anymore. Even before, he’d avoid it, not wanting to rip a child out of their family. 

“I did.” Prompto continued looking towards the sky. “Got my mare through that. It was a relief it wasn’t a child, it would be weird to raise a little one and try to be a witcher as well.” Gladio thought of Iris in her lighthouse, how he’d stopped visiting once she got older and started asking too many questions. She wasn’t his child of surprise, but it was almost like she was so. He’d have to visit her again at some point, make sure she was still alive and well. 

“Yes. No room for children or houses in this life.”

“Well, I’m sure one witcher in the world has managed to retire.” Prompto looked at him with a smirk and something inside of Gladio stirred. He did his best to shove it deep inside himself, ignoring it. He was not supposed to feel things like this, and Prompto often made him forget that with his weirdly nonchalant behaviour. 

“When you find him, be sure to tell me.”

“I will” Prompto’s smirk turned into a smile. 

Their conversation got cut short, when both heard a howl coming from the woods outside the keep. Both their heads turned in it’s direction incredibly fast and with just a quick look to each other they unsheated their iron swords, quickly making their way to the breach on the walls. It would be good to have a fight, something to get their blood pumping. Something to take Gladiolus mind of these pesky emotions that kept trying to bubble inside him. 

The wolves weren’t many, and Gladio felt bad for them. They looked thin like there wasn’t much prey in the woods. He hated the idea of harming them, through gritted teeth tsking. Still, they couldn’t let them feed on the horses or the goats, or they would be in trouble themselves. 

“Big Guy?” Prompto asked, but Gladio didn’t turn his gaze from the wolves.

“Yes, Prompto?”

“Cover my back, I have an idea.” And he moved ahead, sword on his right hand and standing on the blocking stance. Gladio could see the wolves circling them ready to attack as a pack, so he stood with his back against Prompto’s ready to support whatever plan the other Witcher had. It was a second or ten of pure tension between them and the animals. Before he heard the softest whisper from Prom _”Axii”_ and the wolves went from aggressive to calm in one second. Prompto whistled and started moving towards the woods, followed by them in an incredibly calm and orderly fashion. They almost looked like domesticated pups, which was worrisome, cause Gladio knew Axii did not last forever. He followed, sword still at hand as Prompto moved through the woods with intent as if he was looking for something. Gladio had never been the best at Axii, he tended to rely heavily on queen and yrden, never quite got to the level of controlling groups with it. He could see Prompto resigning it at the slightest sight of agitation from the wolf, they must have walked through the woods for about ten minutes when he heard the sounds of animals breathing, something that wasn’t the wolves. 

Prompto stopped all of them and himself at the edge of a clearing where a bunch of deer were going to pasture. He let the wolves take position and then started backing away silently. Gladio smiled at him as both of them moved as far away as they could, trying to see if the wolves would get the hint of it. And from the sounds he could hear in the back, yes. As they broke the treeline, he grabbed Prompto’s shoulder.

“That was a very smart idea.” 

Prompto gave him a soft smile before stretching his arms up. “No problem. Now, we should probably go back inside before my lashes froze over.”

“Well, if you weren’t wearing summer armor…”

“Listen, we could never recover the better cat schematics.” 

They made small talk as they got back inside, finding Cor and Titus sitting by the table playing cards like the two old men they were. They just gave a quick look as the two younger witchers walked towards the lit fireplace, trying to pull the cold out of their bones. Gladio did turn towards them to inform them about their progress dealing with the wolves. And perhaps he made sure everyone knew that Prompto had done a good job, because as much as Cor seemed fine with his friend. Gladio knew Titus had stronger opinions, even if he didn’t say anything. Eventually, Prompto touched his arm and gestured with his head.

“I’m going upstairs, a bit tired and sore after everything.” And he started walking, Gladio stood there looking at him for a moment. Before looking over towards Cor, who just raised an eyebrow and spoke up very calm and stern.

“You should not leave your guest alone, Gladiolus.”

Gladio nodded at him before turning to walk up the stairs, catching up with Prompto halfway through.

“You don’t need to join me, you know?” Stll, as Prompto spoke those words Gladio could feel something beneath his tone. Something that made Gladio’s trousers grow a bit tight. Perhaps it was enough of playing around and dodging the interests that both of them clearly had. As he opened the door to his own room Prompto had immediately thrown himself on the bed, like his namesake animal sprawling around and stretching himself. Gladio discovered he couldn’t just look at him like that, so enticing, so he climbed up the bed with Prompto. 

Their eyes met, and from that to moving in to kiss was no real big change. Prompto felt warm even though it was quite cold around them. He moved to press the smaller witcher down against the sheets. Prompto’s arms crossed behind Gladio’s neck and pulled him in even closer. Their mouths connecting again with this unnatural connection Gladio could only be thankful they shared. Gladio could feel Prompto parting his legs so he could slip his body between them. It felt so natural to have their bodies fitting each other like this. He never wanted to let go of Prompto, even if that was a stupidly fanciful and far too romantic idea. He grinded his hips against Prompto’s, making the softest noises escape his mouth between the kissing. 

As they parted, still close, Prompto let out a breathless laughter. “I see, Big Guy, this was all your plan to get me in bed with you.”

Gladio couldn’t stop the smirk on his lips as he nuzzled and kissed Prompto’s neck. “Obviously.” 

The man under him laughed, his fingers now tangling themselves on Gladio’s hair, pulling just the slightest. He moved from starting to kiss and bite at the others neck, looking at Prompto’s profile and all the freckles on his face. He looked so handsome. And far too dressed for Gladio’s taste. He moved away from his partner, sitting up on his knees on the bed and started removing his own clothing. Hoping Prompto would catch the drift. Which of course he did. It was somewhat amusing how long it took the two of them to undress. No one ever mentioned that good armor took like at least five minutes of unbuckling belts and untying straps. Prompto was done first, and Gladio could get a good look at his body. The scars were there, and Gladio could see freckles in running down his chest. The Cat jumped out of bed and quickly made his way towards the fireplace, lighting it up with Igni. 

“So we can enjoy ourselves with no worries.”

“Well, I was hoping we’d just keep each other warm.” Gladio teased, moving up behind Prompto to grab him by the waist and pull him back towards the bed. They tumbled into it. A mess of tangled limbs as Prompto rolled over Gladio’s body and straddled his hips. Which brought a gasp out of the bigger man, the feeling of Prompto’s ass pressed against his now hard erection was a cheap move. He groaned and his hands shot up to grab Prompto’s waist. He could feel both the smooth skin and the scars. 

“You did not expect me to just sit there and take it right, _Gladio_?” The way Prompto spoke with confidence as he leaned in to give Gladio a quick peck on the lips was probably the sexiest fucking thing he had ever heard. 

He could have used that moment to swing them around and pin him down against the bed. Howeer, Gladio found it so much hotter to have Prompto like this. So he let the Cat explore his body with his hands, running them down Gladio’s chest and then coming back to his nipples, pinching them between his fingers and Gladio could do nothing but arch into the touch and let a groan escape his lips. Prompto’s face was full of devilish satisfaction. He leaned in and shamelessly ran his tongue over his lips before putting the left nipple in his mouth and sucking it. He definitely had experience doing this kind of thing. Gladio let his hands roam down towards Prompto’s ass and just grabbed it, feeling how soft and just nice they were. Also it helped that this pressed his ass even tighter against Gladio’s dick, and that made both of them gasp. Prompto leaned in, ignoring his nipples in favour of kissing Gladio and slowly grinding his ass against Gladio’s dick. The kissing was getting progressively sloppier, both of them gasping and moaning during it. Eventually, Gladio pushed him back enough so he could speak.

“As much as we have time, and as much as I enjoy you being an absolute tease.” And Gladio sat up putting his back against the headboard and pulling Prompto so their chests pressed against each other. “I really wanna fuck you.”

“I really want you to fuck me too, _Big Guy_.”

Gladio could keep himself from smirking, it was so incredibly cliche, but somehow the tone in which Prompto said that made it sound sexy still. Prompto kissed him one more time, moving away just the slightest to look around for something. 

“So, I assume you have something to help me prep?”

It wasn’t difficult to figure out what was, so Gladio smirked to him and leaned over towards his nightstand to open the drawer there and grab a vial with an specific vial of oil he had bought in Altissia. It was a special thing for the rare occasions he took company into his bed. Prompto gave him a smirk before kissing his lips for a second.

“Can I do it?” Gladio asked, uncorking the vial. 

“Go right ahead.” Prompto leaned forward, resting his face against Gladio’s shoulder and raising his hips just enough so that Gladio would have access to his ass and his hole. Gladio rubbed the oil on his fingers just enough so it would be good as one of his fingers started pressing inside Prompto. He could hear the soft gasp from Prompto as he started moving his finger, slowly at first. Gladio very much enjoyed doing this slow process, moving his finger and listening to Prompto gasp softly at first.

Until Prompto moved up and nibbled at his ear, before whispering. “Come on, I can take more.”

Gladio smirked and turned his head to kiss him as he slowly pushed a second finger inside along the first. He pumped his fingers in and out slowly, just feeling Prompto relaxing around his fingers. When he was more or less confident that he was doing what he had set out to do, he moved his fingers just to press that sweet spot inside Prompto. That of course made Prompto moan louder, and his nails dug into Gladio’s shoulders.

“More… Gimme More, Gladio. Please.” 

And Gladio lived to please, so just while fingering Prompto open he made sure to brush his fingers at that spot. Not overwhelming him. Gladio knew he could make Prompto cum with only his fingers, but he didn’t want that this time. Perhaps next time, he’d spend hours just making Prompto cum with his fingers. Now though, he just pressed his third finger to continue the process as best as he could. Though the moans escaping Prompto’s lips made it very hard to not just ignore the preparation and push his cock inside the other man. Still, he made his best efforts and finished prepping Prompto, making sure he was loose enough so that this would only bring pleasure to his partner.

“Enough, come on…” Prompto moved his hips, trying to get away from Gladio’s fingers. 

Gladio did not try hard enough to avoid that, instead busing himself with coating his own dick with the oil. Prompto soon enough was doing all the work, grabbing it from Gladio’s hands and positioning it so he could slowly sink down onto it. Prompto felt so incredibly tight and warm around him, and Gladio had to bite his lips and just hold tightly to his waist. Keeping himself in check, even though all he really wanted was to slam his hips upwards into Prompto’s hole. The slowness of it all left him breathless. As he stared at Prompto’s face, the way his eyes closed and his mouth hung open, he was if possible even more aroused by the situation. It took his partner a few moments before starting to slowly move his hips, hands propped on Gladio’s shoulders for support. It took him a bit before he could even dream of starting to match Prompto’s rhythm, moving his hips upward as well. 

They were in this for a while, neither seemed in too much of a rush to make this become something salvage and primal. He just continued moving his hips upwards, matching Prompto’s movements as they continued. Eventually, as he watched Prompto’s dick getting harder , but not quite at the same rate as Gladio was, so Gladio proceeded to change the angle of his thrusts and let his hand lazily wrap around his cock. Jerking Prompto off, his thumb toying with the head of his cock. That of course led Prompto to moan loudly and scratch at his shoulders deeply. And that was when the control he was sort of keeping up until now, with how softly and desperately Prompto was calling his name. He just couldn’t quite keep himself calm, just pistoning up and wrapping his freed arm around him to pull him closer. They didn’t quite kiss as much as they smashed their mouths together. The movements were getting more and more erratic and strong as they kept going. He couldn’t stop himself, his grasp growing stronger around Prompto’s cock. Prompto came first tightening around Gladio. His cum spllaterring over both over their chests, just as he came inside calling Prompto’s name as he did. They were both stunned by it for a couple moments, Prompto mostly like a ragdoll over Gladio.

“It feels good to have a friend I can do this with.” Gladio said, being the one to break the silence for once, staring at his ceiling and trying to ignore how fast his heart was beating. 

Prompto was silent for a beat longer than what Gladio would have expected before speaking up. “Yeah, yeah it is.” There was something in how he spoke that made Gladio turn his face towards the blond.

Yet, he couldn’t quite read the expression in Prompto’s face, but decided against asking about it. It was usually better not prying into people’s emotions, especially when Gladio was himself trying to avoid his emotions. Instead he just pulled Prompto closer and shoved his face on the crook of the other witcher’s neck. There was nothing quite like feeling Prompto’s scent filling his nostrils, nothing quite holding a lover after passionate sex. 

Gladio knew then and there that he had absolutely fucked up.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been because of Gladio’s love of tournaments that had brought them here. They had jokingly said they should try the grand melee in Altissia every year, like a way to make sure they would meet. Gladio had looked so into it, actually smiling openly and shamelessly, that even if Prompto couldn’t care that much for tournaments, he had agreed to it. So, now, they were both being forced to attend her Royal Highness Princess Lunafreya’s engagement ball. It was the last kind of place two witchers would be expected to be, much less ones that didn’t usually tangle with nobility. Still, Gladiolus’ winning the tournament for the third year in a row, had gotten Prince Ravus and Princess Lunafreya to insist he had to attend. And of course, like the mature stone faced witcher he was, he said he would only attend if Prompto could come with him. That had profoundly amused the nobility of course, so they indulged on his request. 

Now, they were both standing by the food table, dressed in outfits the Princess had made available for them and frankly, looking like two drowners in a desert. Prompto didn’t dare even touch the other witcher, too many eyes on them, and of course at least four noble ladies had come over to talk about how big Gladio’s pecs were and how handsome he looked. Prompto wasn’t jealous, especially since he knew he was far less of a catch to Gladio than the other witcher was in general. And well, it wasn’t like they were in a relationship or anything of the sorts anyway, they were just two friends who fucked sometimes. 

He could see Aranea on the other side of the ballroom, talking to the court’s sorcerer. He had considered just going over to his friend, but he could also see in her demeanour, that he’d just be third wheeling there as well. He could see a few familiar faces around, people from Aranea’s parties. 

He could feel Gladio leaning dangerously close to his ear to whisper, which shouldn’t have made Prompto feel as hot, but he was more than willing to blame it on the alcohol. “Prompto, do you know the young man dressed in black over there?”

Prompto scanned the room till he found the man Gladio was mentioning. “Yeah, that’s Prince Noctis, betrothed to Princess Lunafreya. Actually attends a lot of Aranea’s parties. I think she is friends with his advisor or something.”

“There is something off about him.” Gladio sounded worried beneath his usual neutral tone. “My medallion buzzed as we passed him earlier tonight.”

“Are you sure? Mine was fine.” The look on Gladio’s face as Prompto said that, told the Cat witcher that yes, his friend was sure. So, he just sighed defeatedly. “We can go make conversation if you want. Get a nobility contract, even though I hate those.”

“I do as well, but I feel like I owe him something.”

“What do you mean, Big Guy?”

However, Gladio did not reply, already walking towards the Prince, so Prompto grabbed yet another drink from a passing servant and followed his friend. As they approached, the prince looked at the two of them with a very tired expression on his face, but giving a soft smile nonetheless. 

“Glad to see you two are well.”

Prompto gave him a bright smile, because he wanted to be nice and friendly towards the man. He was young enough that Prompto felt like they could be friends, or perhaps part of him just felt the need to be friendly since they were clearly stepping into half the nobles feets by doing all this. He did notice his medallion was buzzing a bit, not strong like when he was like standing right next to a monster’s nest, but enough that when Prompto quickly looked towards Gladio he gave the other witcher a polite and quick nod.

“We are doing well, Your Highness.” Gladio was surprisingly good at talking to nobility, his posture and demeanour clearly changed. “Pardon our intrusion but I have a question.” His voice had gotten significantly lower at that last sentence, clearly trying to keep this topic out of every gossiping noble around them ears. 

“Yes?” The prince was incredibly calm, but Prompto could see his advisor, not even five feet away was keeping a keen eye.

“What is your supernatural problem?”

The Prince frowned, staring at them with clear confusion. “You must be wrong. I have no supernatural problem.” 

Gladio frowned as well, clearly not believing that answer, but Prompto -and probably Gladio as well - could hear his steady heartbeat indicating he was not lying to them. Which was odd, no supernatural being would be able to keep that lie and most cursed people figured out they were cursed soon enough. Prompto jumped at the chance to smooth things over, because it felt pointless to harass the man over it. 

“No problem, Your Highness, we must have been mistaken.” He gave his best cheerful smile as he grabbed Gladio’s arm to move away.

The Wolf did not contradict him in the lie as they moved away, the Prince with a troubled look on his face as they got away. His advisor quickly stepped to his side to calm him down, eyeing the two witchers suspiciously. As soon as they were far enough away, Gladio sighed deeply and massaged his forehead.

“That was odd.” Prompto tried to be reassuring. “But ultimately not our business.” It wasn’t that Prompto did not want to help, it was just that nobles were always more trouble than they were worth. 

Gladio looked over his shoulder towards the prince and then shook his head. “You are right.”

“I’d invite you to dance to take your mind off things, but I don’t think they would approve of that.” Prompto liked the bard playing well enough, and it would have been fun, but he knew how those things worked, this was not one of Aranea’s parties where he could make out with Gladio safely at the courtyard. 

“We’d be like dancing monkeys for their amusement, so I’d prefer not.” 

They ended up focusing on drinking, and eventually Gladio got challenged to a few arm wrestling competitions against some rowdier young noblemen. Everything was going pretty smoothly, much to Prompto’s surprise, so of course shit would eventually stir. It all happened when close to midnight the bard and his band announced they would be playing a song for Lady Lunafreya and her betrothed. Something slow and romantic so they could dance together as be watched by everyone. They looked like a decent enough match, but Prompto was perhaps a bit drunk and a bit petty inside. He would never get to dance like this, and perhaps he wanted to have a chance to be slightly normal and have those sappy moments. 

That was when Prince Noctis gasped in pain and fell to his knees. Everyone was frozen as crystal started breaking his skin in several places. Prompto could not take his eyes away from this entire situation cause it was absolutely surreal. He had not quite seen anything like this, even in all his years being a witcher. This was absolutely a curse taking place, especially considering how much his medallion was vibrating. Soon enough, the Prince’s advisor was running towards the Prince, but luckily Gladio interfered before he or Lady Lunafreya touched the Prince’s skin or crystal. 

“You shouldn’t.” Prompto added, joining his friend in keeping people away. “It might be a curse, but it might transfer to you as well.”

The advisor - gods, Prompto couldn’t quite remember his name, Ignis, perhaps - turned to them with pure anger in his expression. “Then fix this. Find a way! You are witchers aren’t you?”

And just like that the crowd turned on them. Several nobles were now shouting for the witchers to do something, like Gladio or Prompto could immediately fix the situation. Before the crowd could actually turn into a mob, Gentiana and Aranea stepped up. The court sorceress spoke in a very calm tone to the crowd. 

“Please be calm, I’m sure these fine witchers can solve this issue in a very short time.”

Prompto could feel the _Why would we?_ somewhere in the back of his mind, but one look between how crushed the people that seemed closest to the Prince were and another to all the guards around the room was enough. He couldn’t leave these people hanging without a witcher. Certain curses had a time limit to be broken before the person succumbed, so instead, he turned to Gentiana and said.

“Yes. We’ll investigate it.”

Next to him, he could hear Gladio groaning in what he could only assume to be begrudging acceptance of their fate. Gentiana smiled gently towards them, as Lady Lunafreya started her process to get everyone calmed and away from the room. As the party dissolved itself, the witchers were left standing in the center of the room. Gladio sighed deeply looking over towards the now completely crystalized prince, and Prompto could feel the tiredness washing over both of them. Gentiana turned to both of them with that peaceful smile that sort of creep Prompto out, and spoke softly. 

“You two should rest, I can watch over him during the night.”

Prompto could quite say no to her, and to be quite frank he didn’t want to. It was late, he was slightly tipsy and tired, so he grabbed Gladio’s elbow pulling him a bit. The taller witcher didn’t seem too pleased to follow along, and Prompto was quite sure when they were out of sight he’d hear Gladio complaining about this. 

“If you can’t fix this… The king will have your head.” He could hear the absolute anguish in the prince’s advisor’s voice, that was the voice of someone who did not believe the witchers could fix it. Someone who had started mourning already. 

“Understood.” Gladio’s deep voice almost shook Prompto with surprise. It sounded both devoid of emotion and frustrated. “We are staying in the Highwind State.” 

As they walked away together outside the ballroom, Gladio turned to him clearly frustrated. Which to be absolutely fair, Prompto could completely understand, but what else could he have done.

“We should leave while we can.” Gladio’s voice was low and growly and it did things that it probably shouldn’t have done to Prompto. He could just not focus on it when he should be talking about serious matters.

“No. Aranea lives here, it would be terrible for her. Besides, we can’t just let him like that.”

“Prompto, if we fail they will have us executed for it.” Gladio looked at him with something that Prompto’s stupid brain wanted to say was care and worry, and perhaps he was just overthinking about the whole situation. “They might even do it even if we succeed.”

“I know… It just feels incredibly cruel of us. With a curse like that he won’t survive for long. And we can stop it.”

“Witchers are not a charity.”

“I know, but that doesn't make it excusable. We should still help as much as we can. It’s just the right thing to do. We aren’t like them, we don’t have to backstab anyone.”

Gladio groaned then just sighed in defeat. “Let’s go, we got to rest if we are going on this contract together. 

-Investigation

Investigating curses was not usually his favorite business, the intricacies of every possible combination of everything that could lead into someone being cursed. Gladio preferred the straightforward hunts. After a tense night with Prompto, where they didn’t talk much and most obviously did not sleep together. It wasn’t that Gladio was mad, or that he didn’t see the validity of Prompto’s point. It was just that when he saw the crowd turning, all he could think was the tavern and the fact that Prompto could have been killed by humans if they weren’t there. How people were so willing to forget civilization. That was beside the point, as they walked clad in armor with Prompto carrying a few books his vampire friend had on magic and curses and some folklore books. That was perhaps the worst part of curses, half the stuff was buried between tying live chickens to your warts and kissing frogs to turn them back into princes. 

“So, should we split and conquer?” Prompto asked as they crossed the gates into the palace. “Like I can go interview the people close to him, and you can examine the crystal and check through Gentiana’s lab. She left a message saying we could use it for alchemy if we needed. It is apparently fully stocked.”

“Why do I have to be on a library assignment? We can read tomes later, interviews are usually the best way to figure the exact details out. Humans always talk among themselves about weird stuff.”

“He doesn’t seem to have many friends, it should be just his advisor and Lady Lunafreya to talk to. His father is back at their kingdom so unless we decide to travel a week on horse I don’t think we will get much out of him.” Gladio remembered the advisor, the man with the glasses and the threats and grief. Gladio felt both pity and a bit of anger towards him, but Prompto continued talking. “But I guess you can talk to one of them? Which one do you want to take?”

“I’ll take the advisor.” Gladio promptly added. “You can take the Princess.”

“Are you sure? Perhaps I will charm and run away with her.” 

A shiver ran down Gladio’s spine as he heard that - not the good kind obviously, more like dread had settle on his stomach -, it was stupid to feel like that though, so before Prompto could notice he replied, actually giving the blond witcher a smile. “That would be nice for you. Being a noblewoman’s paramour would definitely suit you.”

Prompto frowned looking at him, and asked. “Wouldn’t you be sad if I just vanished to stay in like a villa by the coast?”

“If that made you happy, no? Like you’re my friend, I want you to be happy. Well, as happy as any witcher can be.”

Prompto shook his head slightly. “You’re weird. Anyway, he should be inside the castle. Probably waiting to talk to us.”

“Or berate us for not having the job already done.” Gladio had encountered several nobles like that along the years. 

“Come on, Big Guy. The man just lost someone he clearly cared a lot about, give him a chance will you?”

Gladio almost felt compelled to roll his eyes, but he ended up nodding just to appease the Cat. As they made their way inside the main hall, an exaggeratedly ostentatious place filled mostly with guards, Gladio could cut the tension there with his sword. Prompto himself looked like the stress was getting to him, and it all only made Gladio hate this contract even more. Perhaps the worst part was knowing there was nothing he could do to actively change anything. Just go along for now.

“I will look for him, you be careful okay?” He turned to his friend one more time, quite aware he was being overzealous about all this. 

“Overthinking doesn’t suit your whole cool and brooding witcher vibe you have going for you.” Prompto chimed as he walked away, with a smile in his lips, and Gladio became ever so more aware of how his friend was always trying to make things cheerful and less heavy. It was such an endearing trait. 

“Fuck” He swore under his breath as he watched Prompto going down a hallway. He didn’t have the time at the moment to think about the obvious problem with their relationship. So instead, he asked one of the guards where he could find Prince Noctis advisor, and was kindly informed that Ignis was waiting at his room on the third floor. And that the guards would be accompanying him there. Gladio almost wanted to laugh cause of course those three guards following him around thought they were a match for him. No matter that just with a once over he could tell one of them had an injury in his leg and that the younger of the three was absolutely terrified of Gladio. Still, there were far too many guards in the entire place for him to take, it would just end up accelerating his trip to jail and to the executioner’s axe. 

They stopped him in front of an unremarkable door and one of them knocked and announced loudly to whoever was inside that the witcher was here to talk about the Prince. When Ignis opened the door, he looked far less composed than the other times Gladio had seen him. Clearly hadn’t slept the entire night, if the dark circles under his eyes were any indication. His fancy clothes were disheveled, and Gladio could almost smell the wax from the candles that must have burned the entire night. 

“Witcher, good morning. Please come in.” He sounded as tired as he looked. He then turned to the guards. “We will speak alone.” The guards opened their mouths to object, but Ignis just glared at them. 

Gladio walked into the room, trying his best not to offer judgement to how it looked. The bed was unsurprisingly untouched, but the desk had so many papers and books Gladio was sure the man had been doing his own research on the matters. There was also a spear resting next to the door, so he could only assume the distrust was mutual in the current situation. He heard the door closing, as he stood in the middle of the room, focused by his paranoia to pay attention to the sound of Ignis’ movements. However, the man did not touch the spear, just walked past Gladio and sat on the chair in front of the desk.

“Pardon the mess, I have been investigating myself. Could not just fall asleep as he is like that.”

Gladio nodded, his initial distaste for the man going away. There was something very honest and focused on how Ignis was behaving, far different from what Gladio was expecting. 

“Have you come across anything you believe me and my partner should know about?” Gladio asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Now came the real work, trying to figure out if the man knew anything useful, and if he tried to lie about it, make sure he understood the dangers of doing so. 

Ignis rubbed his face with his hand, clearly tired but nodded and grabbed a few pieces of paper from his desk. 

“Prince Noctis is the sole heir, so of course several people could benefit from his death or crystallization if the curse is not broken. He cannot rule like that.” So they had a lot of suspects, that was less helpful than he’d like. “There is also the fact of the prophecy…”

“Prophecy?” Gladio was not too fond of future telling, but that could be an easy answer to this whole mess.

“Prince Noctis was born under a very special set of stars, and there have been several discussions between the astronomers and clairvoyants. Half of them say he is a Black sun Prince, which would in their views mean he is cursed to well, bring doom to the country. The other half says he is the Chosen King, the one who will bring our kingdom back into its glory days.”

“Does either group talk about how that is supposed to happen?” Gladio asked, because as much as that was a nice story, he needed facts. 

“Not really, the court's old sorcerer theorized a lot about it, but before he could finish his research he ended up poisoned by someone. Dying. His notes were of course burned.” 

“Of course.” Gladio groaned between his teeth. “Has anything similar happened to the Prince’s before? As much as nobles love using magic for their own gains, the amount of magic needed for a curse like that does not sound like a paid job. Besides, if it was for the throne, it would have been easier to straight up kill him.”

“They’ve tried killing him, of course. Everything from hired assassins with magic to poison. But to this degree… You’re correct, it seems personal.” Ignis was staring at his papers confused and Gladio could plainly see the moment something snapped in place on his mind. “Prince Ravus has been… not too kind to the Prince this visit.”

“Do you know why?”

And that was when Gladio’s hearing could pick up Ignis heart starting to race, and yet still the man said. “No”

“You know your heart just told me you know the reason right?” Gladio added, because they had been going so well with all that. “Your prince could die or be a crystal for the rest of his days.”

“I just don’t see how…”

“I could go ask Prince Ravus about it. And he probably wouldn’t have any qualms in telling me the truth.”

Ignis groaned and looked away from Gladio, this was something very personal from the looks of it. Gladio wasn’t happy with having to press the man against the wall like this but it was, well, needed. 

“I hope you understand what I’m about to tell you cannot be told to anyone else.” Ignis got up and walked towards the window, looking out from it, clearly tense. “Prince Ravus walked into Prince Noctis and I having… intercourse. He, as you can imagine, was not pleased by finding his sister fiancee in bed with a man, most all the man who is always with him no matter where Noct goes. Please, do not let this cloud your judgement of the Prince or myself. Lady Lunafreya was quite aware of the arrangement before her brother. This is just a private matter that can’t come to the light of the public.”

“Oh, Shit.” Gladio was a bit stunned by all that. Suddenly shed a lot more light into the situation, but it also made him so angry. Not at them of course, and yes, this was probably the standard for nobility, but still, he could only think of himself and Prompto. Not that they were anything like a Prince and his advisor keeping a secret relationship. 

“Please, promise me this will not be discussed with anyone not in this investigation.”

“No need to worry about that.” Gladio slowly approached the other man. “I have no business judging the two of you, least of all when I’m also lying with a man. And even if I wasn't, witchers know far too well what’s like being treated as a monster for no good reason.” Ignis looked at him and Gladio could see such a deep relief in his eyes, and also a weird connection. He had to admit that it was good to meet someone like him, while his fellow witchers did not judge, none of them had the same preferences -or lack of them - that Gladio did. “DO you think Prince Ravus could have done that as revenge?”

“Lady Lunafreya would not approve of it, but I assume he could be convinced by someone else.” Ignis seemed to have recomposed himself, his back straightened. 

“And you have an idea of who that could be, right?” Gladio ended up smirking, and in the back of his mind he could hear Cor saying he was becoming more and more like Prompto. Less of a proper witcher, and frankly, for once, he did not care. 

“The King had an older brother, who did not inherit the throne because he showed magical aptitude and ended up becoming a sorcerer. He is not aggressive towards Prince Noctis, but I cannot trust the man even the slightest.”

“You could have led with that.” Gladio tried to not sound frustrated. 

“I’m sorry, I haven’t gotten much sleep and all this has taken a toll on me emotionally. His name is Ardyn Izunia, he does not live here but I’m sure he could shed some light on the situation at least.”

“Thank you, Ignis. This all will help. If you think of anything else I should know, please, send a message.” Gladio was done here, he had to find Prompto and talk about what he had discovered and see if the Cat had any other leads.

“Thank you… I’m sorry I never asked your name.” Ignis looked actually apologetic which was nice, most people just tended to call Gladio “The Witcher” or “Wolf”.

“Gladiolus Amiticia. The other guy is Prompto.” Gladio smiled at him before giving the man a polite nod of farewell and walking out of the room. 

The three guards were there, looking incredibly bored. He didn’t even bother acknowledging them as he walked away towards the main hall so he could follow Prompto’s footsteps. They all hurried to catch up, like a bunch of ducklings. It wasn’t hard to find the Cat, as he was coming out of the same hallway Gladio had seen him walking in earlier. He looked hurried and a bit apprehensive. 

“Hey, Big Guy. I got a lead.” He chimed.

“So did I.”

Prompto gave him a smile, but it felt wrong. “You first?”

“There is a sorcerer named Ardyn Izunia that might have been the one to cast the curse. We should try and track him probably. You?”

“Gentiana and I figured a few things that could work to dispel it.” And that was when his face dropped a bit, the cheerful smile being gone from his expression. 

“But there is a problem.”   
“It's a rare flower that according to the records Gentiana has, well, it only grows where my School is- was. Just wasn’t looking forward to revisiting that place anytime soon. Such is luck I suppose.”

Gladio was actually surprised by that, and not in a pleasant way. He could see why Prompto looked like that, and it still crushed his heart. 

“I could go there by myself. If you’d prefer to stay and get everything ready.” He knew it was a silly offering, but he needed to say it at least. 

“Thanks for the offer, but you’d never make sense of the place by yourself.” At least the smile he gave Gladio, while weak and apprehensive, but still it was there. He caught himself smiling back to the other witcher, which of course got Prompto to talk more, almost looking back to his normal self. “Oh come on, Big Guy, that way you will make me fall in love with you or something.” 

It was clearly a joke, so Gladio just rolled his eyes and shook his head. “No need to tease me, _Prom_.”

That made the other witcher blush fiercely before he rolled his eyes and started walking clearly embarrassed. Gladio couldn’t help but feel pleased with all of this as he followed his friend back outside.

-

“Man, I hadn’t taken this path in ages.” Prompto found himself yet again making the small talk as they rode their horses through the overgrown path. Luckily for them the Cat School was not that far away from Altissia, a boat ride and a day by horse only. Aranea had elected to come with them once Prompto told her about their plans. It was somewhat of a relief, the more the merrier in all honesty. Prompto had been very anxious about this trip all in all. 

“It still looks pretty much the same.” Aranea commented, seeming somewhat unamused by everything. 

Gladio had been mostly silent for the riding part, but Prompto could tell the other witcher was worried. Which was nice and somewhat made Prompto want to smile. It was stupid how every little thing Gladio did made him want to smile. By everything, he was so pathetically interested in a friend, someone who’d clearly only wanted casual moments. Why was it always like this?

“There should be a trail off the main road just up ahead, by that old willow tree.” He pointed ahead, trying not to think about when he was little and he used to sit on the willow tree’s branches every early winter watching for the older witchers returning to ask for their stories. While his life in that place hadn’t been the best years of his life, there was a nostalgic feeling. 

“I wonder how my old crypt is looking. Hopefully no other child of the night has taken residency.”

“Why? Planning to come back?” Prompto teased her as they made the turn into the trail, he and choco leading the way.

“Well, eventually the people in altissia will realize I do not age, it might be good to have a back up plan.”

“Always thinking ahead.”

He couldn’t see her smiling, but he could feel it in the air. It was somewhat dumb, but it was such a relief to have her here. The track up through the path was uneasy for him, he knew there were arachas in the woods near the place itself, but now it just felt more obvious how desolate the place was. No one had made this track in clearly a long time. His mentors would have scolded Prompto and beat him if he had ever let the weeds and the grass take over like this. Choco herself seemed slightly tense about everything around them. Eventually he could see the ruins peaking above the treeline, the towers where the witchers in training used to climb at night to watch the stars. 

“Welcome home.” He whispered to himself, grasping tighter at Choco’s reign. 

The gates were broken of course, they had been for forever and when Prompto was last here it was the least of his worries. As they moved in, he could almost see the bodies all scattered around the grounds, both witchers and villagers, strung about and either charred or covered in flies. It made him want to throw up or turn Choco around and just leave forever. The building itself had clear marks of the fire on the stone walls, most of the glass windows had been broken and ivies and had started overgrowning some parts. He climbed off Choco, patting her neck for her comfort but mostly for his own. Gladio and Aranea climbed off their respective horses right behind him. Neither of them seemed to be able to say anything, Prompto could feel their eyes on the back of his head like they were waiting for him to break down or something. He wouldn’t of course, there was nothing here that could hurt him anymore than it already had.

“I will check my crypt and the garden, you two can check inside and we will be out of here in no time.” Aranea spoke as she was already walking away from them, looking over her shoulder, and Prompto could see the cogs in her mind. He rolled his eyes at her before turning to face Gladio.

“So, are you ready to see where I grew up?” He tried his best to be cheerful, not let it show too much.

Gladio gave him a weak smile and nodded, still there was something very somber about him. So Prompto elected to ignore it for now, just walking away towards the building with clear determination. He chugged a Cat potion he kept on his belt, because he doubted the place would have much light.

“Remind me again how the flower looks.” Gladio speaks as they cross the threshold into the main building, and relief washes over Prompto. This place is silent enough without his companion speaking.

“It’s blue, has six petals and glows.” Prompto recited from the herbalist tome he had found the information on. “Naturally it only grows in dark places that have seen a lot of deaths. Can be used for undoing spells but also is a very potent poison, that’s the reason my order grew it.”

They walked through the main halls, and Prompto hated hearing the sounds of his own footsteps on the ground, over the cracked glass and burned down wood. 

“At least it glows.” Gladio trying to make small talk was very sweet, as he continued walking next to Prompto. “Any ideas where we should start?”

“The Grass Trials were held in the basement, so for sure that place saw a lot of death. Well, the entire place has right now.” Prompto bit his lip, trying not to be too sour or sad about everything. He had to focus himself on the contract on the job. It was just hard when he kept remembering the scenes after the school had been burned, or even the things before that. His training and all the terrible experiences and loneliness of growing up. As he looked around he could almost see the shadows of the boys around him, he could almost see himself - chubby and covered in bruises from the training.

 _”Hey elf! I didn’t know they let girls become witchers!”_ “They shouldn’t let anyone become a witcher, was what he thought now, but back then he had felt so self concious about not fitting in with the rest of them.

 _“Such a fucking crybaby.”_ Well, the sad part was that he couldn’t even feel good about being the last remaining witcher for this school. He didn’t hate them enough to want them dead, he never did. 

He winced at the memories. Before shaking his head and rushing towards the stairs, there wasn’t anything they could do about the past. As they started walking down the stairs, he could feel himself sweating. He could remember when he walked down these stairs with six other boys, and he remembered the pain and being so desperate to not fail. He couldn’t fail, or they would figure out. Figure out he didn’t quite belong there, that he still felt too much, that he didn’t want to hurt anything that didn’t deserve to be hurt. That he would draw pictures of a future happy family on the edges of his notes. All in vain in the end of course, as he would probably die in a ditch killed by humans more likely than anything else. The basement itself was so much bigger than it would appear, it was where the dungeons were situated. There were clearly wraiths around the place, but between the two witchers, dispatching them was not too big of a trouble. 

Prompto and Gladio checked every damned corner of that place for the flower, but there were no signs of it. Sure there were some funghi they grabbed for alchemy purposes, but no flower. Prompto cursed under his breath as he realized there was no sign of it. He just wanted to be done with it so bad. He just wanted to help people and be away from this place, they had to keep looking, but he did not want to go upstairs. He didn’t want to see his old room, or the dorms. He did not want to go to the tower. Prompto was startled when he felt Gladio’s strong hand clasping his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts for a moment. That’s when he felt his face wet with tears and felt so ashamed. 

“Prompto.” Gladio calling his name in such a low soft voice startled him. “Breathe, I’m here with you, you are not alone.”

His eyes darted to the contraption in a corner, the one they had used for the trials so many years ago. His whole body shook just the slightest and some pathetic part of him wanted to grab on to Gladio and ask the other man to take him out of here. He couldn’t though, they had a job to finish, people would never forget or forgive this. He opened his mouth to speak, but he just couldn’t do it.

Gladio’s hand moved from his shoulder to cup his chin . “It’s going to be fine Prom. They can’t harm you and it might hurt but it will be fine.”

Prompto just gave up on trying to contain himself and threw his arms around Gladio’s shoulders pulling him close for a hug. It was a relief when he felt Gladio moving his arms around him, keeping him steady and feeling safe. He shoved his face on the crook of Gladio’s neck, just breathing in slowly. They didn’t talk as they kept hugging each other, Prompto’s body slowly stopping shaking. It wasn’t until he let go of the taller witcher that Prompto found in himself the courage to actually speak up.

“Hey, Gladio?” He didn’t mean for his voice to tremble, but it did nonetheless.

“Yeah, Prom?” Prompto would be a dirty liar if he said the nickname made him all the more nervous about his next words.

“I don’t want to stay here any longer. I know it’s our better chance, but I just can’t.” He chickened out of what he wanted to say, but this was still true. 

Gladiolus nodded at him and both of them started walking back up the stairs, and during it he felt even more conscious of everything. The courage was somewhere inside of him, he just had to garner it and speak. His eyes focused on Gladio’s back on the pattern on his armor, as they arrived in the main hall, the words just burst out of him.

“Gladio, I think I’m in love with you.”

His friend stopped in his tracks and Prompto winced.

“Witchers can’t feel, Prompto.” Was the reply, and something in the back of Prompto’s mind told him to back down, but he couldn’t.

“We both know that’s a bald face lie they tell us, Gladio.” His voice got higher, and he felt somewhat self-concious about everything. “Witchers can feel, they do feel. It’s just easier not to deal with everything.” He started pacing around the room, energy and blood pumping inside himself. He could hear his heartbeat loud as thunder and he was sure Gladio could as well. “I might have assumed stuff from how you were behaving, if you are not interested that’s fine. Don’t just preach me that bullshit, we both know that’s not true.” He didn’t mean to sound as frustrated or sad, it wasn’t fair to Gladio, still he was allowed to be upset. 

“It’s not that, Prompto. I just don’t know. I have never loved someone, I couldn’t tell you how that feels if you pointed your daggers at my throat. I don’t know.” Gladio had turned to look at him, and Prompto could tell how frustrated he was with everything. How he could think he didn’t feel when he was clearly so torn about this. 

“It’s fine. You don’t have to know, I just thought I needed to be honest with you about how I feel.”

Gladio looked at him and for a moment it seemed like he would add something, but before he could Aranea strided into the room as well, her heels clacking against the floor. They both looked at her as startled as deer. Prompto saw his friend arching an eyebrow before she started speaking.

“We should go. I couldn’t find anything, and the crypt is occupied at the moment. Don’t want that one finding you two and I don’t want the entire vampire community having even more ammunition to call me a traitor. So, please, let’s leave.” She was lying, Prompto could tell. He had known Aranea for far too long, she hadn’t involved herself in the affairs of the vampire community since long before Prompto wandered into her crypt. Knowing her, he was pretty sure she had heard that entire conversation and just decided to interfer to protect him and his feelings. It was annoying, but also endearing.

So he decided to play along. Hurriedly walking towards her, grabbing Gladio’s arm in the way to hurry him along. Even if touching the other witcher felt incredibly inappropriate at this moment. They rushed outside, and Prompto could tell by the sun’s position they had spent far longer inside than it seemed. As they climbed onto their horses, Prompto made sure to lock his eyes with Gladio and whisper.

“Nothing has to change, I’m sorry I spoke like that.”

And the heartbroken look on Gladio’s face just had to make everything even more complicated.

\------

Gladio was so amazingly frustrated. He and Prompto were sitting in a very fancy room in a Sorcerer’s tower. It was their only option after the entire thing at the Cat school. He couldn’t even look at his friend, so confused by all this. It was so ironic that the only person he could have talked to about this entire situation with Prompto, his only friend was also the person he was in this mess with. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t reciprocate Prompto’s sentiment, he had become quite aware that he did. Yet, saying that out loud to him seemed like somehow it would be the worst thing that could possibly happen. He knew why witchers were on purpose kept from ever having kids, he knew why they were told that they didn’t have feelings. It was so they didn’t stray from what they had been created for. The simple thought of giving that up for a love affair that could never work forever seemed like a betrayal of Cor and his school and everything he had lived for till now. 

“So, my dear dear witchers, you want me to help you turn the crystal that has become the Prince back into a Prince?” Ardyn was the most despicably annoying kind of sorcerer. All dressed up in something between a very poor man and a very fancy man. With silks and a ridiculous hat, but everything looked old. He had a smirk on his lips as he stood looking at them. “Assuming I could, and I’m not saying I can do such a thing. What would I gain with that?”

Gladio hated that kind of mentality, so he didn’t reply, just let his grip on the arms of the chair grow ever so tighter. The boy was dying and all this sorcerer could think of was himself. Prompto had taken control, but he also looked like he was incredibly scared.

“The King will not kill you? You are going to do something good?” Prompto almost sounded like a scared teenager. Prompto’s voice was a bit shaky and tired, he was clearly very uncomfortable by the way his eyes scanned the two witchers. Much like everything was just an amusing game to him, which was very much probably what it was. 

The laughter was expected, but it still made Gladio angry. The sorcerer leaned in towards Prompto, with some sort of nefarious intent. “I don’t know, I’m sure you could offer something more interesting…”

And Gladio felt his body moving on it’s own almost, when he saw Ardyn’s hand touching Prompto’s cheek and how the other witcher flinched. Before he could stop himself, Gladio’s sword was out of it’s sheath and pressed to the sorcerer’s neck.  
“Do not touch him.”

Ardyn laughed again before stepping back, now looking Gladio up and down. 

“Don’t be so sour. It was merely a joke.” He walked away, encircling his desk and turning his back to Gladio, like he was nothing but a petulant child throwing a tantrum. “I can undo the curse _someone_ put on our dear Prince Noctis, however, every magic spell comes with a price. Magic requires sacrifice. And to undo something like that would require a big sacrifice from someone.” He turned, arching an eyebrow at the two of them, like asking what it was going to be.

For a moment, Gladio’s eyes flickered towards where Prompto was still sitting, and he could almost feel that both of them would be willing to sacrifice things to get this contract done. Yet, Gladio could not let him do it again. He did not want to see Prompto hurting, even the slightest bit, and he did not want to see him anywhere near this scum of a sorcerer. So before any of them could get some self-sacrifical ideas out of their mouths, Gladio spoke up.

“I know someone who would definitely be willing to sacrifice things for the Prince. Do you need us to bring them here or would you go where they are?”

“Oh neither. No offense witchers, but I shall not go anywhere close to Altissia.” Ardyn grabbed something from his desk and threw it towards Gladio who probably would have not been able to grasp it if not for his naturally enhanced reflexes. As he gave the object a quick look, it was clear that it was a figurine, made out of glass or crystal, but inside it, Gladio could see this weird dark purple liquid. “Whoever wants to make a sacrifice needs to break that. Simple like that. Let’s just hope whoever they are, they don’t regret it afterwards.”

Gladio didn’t wait to be dismissed, he put the figurine on one of his potion pouches before just touching Prompto’s shoulder to give out the hint that they were leaving. The Cat was incredibly quick in jumping onto his feet and walking alongside Gladio. Out of this wretched tower and away from that disgusting man. Right before they walked out of the door, Gladio could see it turning into a portal, presumably to take them as far away as possible. It had been similar to how they had come in here. Still, Gladio hated portals with an intensity. It made his stomach turn and spin and as they stepped into a crowded street in a port town he recognized, Gladio had to stop for a moment.

“You know I’m not a maiden in need of you to protect my values, but thanks.” He heard Prompto speaking

“Well, let us just hand this over to someone who actually is willing to make the sacrifice, and we can both be on our respective ways. You won’t need to see me until destiny gets us together again.” It wasn’t like the Prompto Gladio knew to be this bitter and hurt, but could he really judge the man? As they sat side by side it just became even more obvious that no matter how much Prompto was acting like it was all fine, there was hurt in him. 

“We could keep going on the Path together. I do think we work better like that.” Gladio tried not to sound too hopeful as he looked at the blond witcher. Prompto’s brows furrowed deeply, and he stared at Gladio like he had just said the wildest thing imaginable. Gladio just sighed and looked away, feeling somewhat ashamed by all this. “I don’t want to leave you, Prompto. You’re the best person I’ve ever met.”

“Gladio, stop. Please, I know you mean well, I just need some time to be alone” He could tell Prompto was trying very hard not to hurt him even the slightest, which was even sadder. 

Gladio could understand that, he could understand why Prompto did not want the camaraderie and friendship as they used to have. Still, it left a sour taste on Gladio’s mouth, so he just nodded and looked away into the waves of the sea. He wished so hard that he was braver, he wasn’t though, so he sat in silence during their trip to Altissia. 

As they finally arrived in the city, there were palace guards waiting for them. It was incredibly offensive in Gladio’s mind, how they got escorted like criminals back to the palace. It was a bit of a daze for him the entire walking towards the palace, like he was a ghost of himself walking through the streets. So tired and uncomfortable at this point. He just wanted desperately for this to be over, he wanted things to return as they were before the Cat School incident. 

Once they arrived, the guards immediately took them to the ballroom, where Lady Lunafreya, her court sorcerer and Ignis. They all stared at them with that mix of hope and sadness, just the fact that Noctis was still a crystal statue showed how much they had not yet been successful in their job. Prompto shook a bit as they took a step forward towards them. 

“You haven’t been able to find the cure for the curse.” Lunafreya had that resigned look in her face, complete with sadness and bitterness.

“Well, not quite. We got a way to uncurse him. The thing is.” Prompto spoke, the attempt to be gentle so absolutely clear on his voice. “To accomplish it someone will have to crush this figurine.” He gestured to Gladio who took the thing out of his pouch, showing it to the gathered people. “However, whoever crushes the figurine is going to sacrifice something. And in all honesty I don’t think it will be a small price.”

Ignis did not even blink looking at them taking a step forward, Gladio somewhat expected some kind of worry or fear, but in his eyes there was just pure determination as he extended the hand towards him. “The figurine, please.”

Gladio didn’t feel like he had any right asking the man if he was sure, and yet still, he found himself saying softly so no one else could hear. “The price might be higher than you expect.”

“No price would be high enough to cover how much joy he brings me.” Ignis determination made Gladio feel even more guilty over his confusion in relation to Prompto. He would have sacrificed anything if the other witcher was hurt, but still, he could not allow himself to be happy with him. And just catching a glimpse of Prompto out of the corner of his eye, a bittersweet smile on his lips. 

They watched together as Ignis took the figurine and smashed in his hands, his blood mixing with the glass and the weird liquid. They watched as he screamed in pain as his eyes were covered by this black substance that almost looked like tar. Gladio tried moving towards him, but a wave of what could only be described as magical energy threw everyone across the room. Gladio cursed himself for a moment, they had clearly put too much faith in a sorcerer. And now they would die, or they would survive and then get executed. And he realized in panic that he would do that while Prompto still thought he didn’t return the other man’s feelings. That was just ridiculous and ironic if Gladio had to admit. As his back hit the wall and all breath was forced out of his lungs, his first thought was to look in the direction where Prompto had been. Upon one look he was mostly sure Prompto was fine, in fact his eyes were glued to where the crystalized Prince was standing. Though he was not crystalized anymore. He’d fallen to his knees and frankly looked like shit, like about ten years had been stolen from him. But he was moving so this had to be a win in their books. 

The Prince rushed towards Ignis, who also seemed to at least be breathing. Gladio watched them together, touching each other’s faces. There were a few moments of affection, soft and somewhat hidden even if everyone in this room apparently knew of them. Soon, the entire group was all gathered around the prince, all of them having a lot of fun. While all of them seemed relieved and worried, hugging each other, Gladio turned to Prompto, sort of expecting them to mingle with the crowd now that the thanks had been given and they were no longer risking being killed off. 

“Prompto… I know we talked about it then, but I meant what I said. I do not want to leave you again. It is a silly request but, with the money we have gotten from contracts…. I wondered if you wanted to perhaps build something together.” He had not been this nervous in ages, had not felt his own heart beating on his chest like a drum since before becoming an actual witcher, ages ago.

Prompto stared at him in shock, and there was a beat of silence that almost made Gladio retract what he just had offered, but instead, Prompto gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen on the other man’s face.

“Yeah. Yeah, I want that very much.”

_

The cabin was on a mountain. Just a small thing, not near either of their Schools, but close enough to Altissia so they could visit Aranea or Prince Noctis whenever he was around. They didn’t take jobs anymore, just intervening when it was incredibly needed. 

It was a very cozy fall day, Gladio had spent the morning cutting down wood and now he was sitting in a chair on their porch, looking out into the woods and woodcarving. It felt incredibly weird to not be paying attention to every single small sound like he was being hunted. Prompto was standing not too far away from him, with a canvas training to paint the landscape. His lover had taken on painting and was quite frankly, an amazing artist. He now spent a lot of the time sketching or painting and there had been so many portraits of Gladio done since then. Most of them were laying around the house, and he was somewhat glad he was very confident in his looks, cause they did not bother him. 

“Prom?”

His partner turned to him, stopping his strokes for a moment to look at him, and Gladio had to say just seeing how the weight of being a witcher had lifted from his shoulders that Prompto somehow looked even more beautiful. Gladio could not be more thankful for when he stopped being a stubborn idiot and decided that he deserved to be happy and make Prompto happy. 

“Yes?” He seemed somehow amused when he spoke, a smirk toying on his lips. 

“I’m going inside, wanna join me?” Asking for company was something he had been growing ever more accustomed to. Just asking for what he wanted instead of expecting some sort of divine sight from Prompto. 

“Hmmm, I am an incredibly busy man, but I think I can make some time for you.” Prompto could barely finish the sentence before erupting into laughter and Gladio had to roll his eyes and smirk at him, before extending his hands towards Prompto, who of course took it and intertwined his fingers with Gladio’s. 

“Hey Gladio?” As they made their way inside the small cabin, Prompto’s voice broke the silence in their small cabin.

“Yes, Prom?” He asked, stopping what he was doing to look back at Prompto, who was grinning wide and had a very amused twinkle on his eyes. 

“I found him.”


End file.
